


Count On Me

by RavenT2



Series: Batman Beyond: Unpack Your Heart [1]
Category: Batman Beyond
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Batman Beyond: Unpack Your Heart, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Major Original Character(s), Nightrunner, Original Character(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28605780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenT2/pseuds/RavenT2
Summary: Terry and Max are in college and working on the next steps of their lives along with new friends. But, when Max's sister announces her engagement, Terry and Max begin to look at their own relationship in a whole new light. Will this lead to something more or will these two simply remain just best friends? 1st Story in the "Unpack Your Heart" Trilogy. (Repost from my other fanfic site.)
Relationships: Maxine Gibson & Bruce Wayne, Maxine Gibson & Melissa Gibson (OC), Maxine Gibson & Sally Croft (OC), Maxine Gibson & Terry McGinnis, Maxine Gibson/Terry McGinnis, Melissa Gibson (OC)/Edward Simmons (OC), Sally Croft (OC) & Basem Asselah (OC), Terry McGinnis & Basem Asselah (OC), Terry McGinnis & Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis & Maxine Gibson & Basem Asselah (OC) & Sally Croft (OC)
Series: Batman Beyond: Unpack Your Heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096112
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the "Unpack Your Heart" series for Batman Beyond. I got this idea on the suggestion of the great dedicated reviewer on FFnet, chocolate1! The story came from the idea of Terry and Max as already out of high school and in college. I was originally going to do with them already as a couple but this was way more fun to do. At first, this was only going to be a trilogy (I'll upload the other two stories soon), but I actually have two more chapter stories planned. They'll be out... sooner or later. As for this story, I started it on 10/17/2015 and finished it on 12/19/2015.
> 
> The title of the series comes from the Phillip Phillips song of the same name, and the title of this story comes from the Bruno Mars song. Both are great and both deserve a listen. So, for now, welcome to the first story in this series, "Count On Me."
> 
> Also, this might be a moot point because most who would ask this are on FFNet, I did a two more Batman Beyond chapter stories there, set as a different timeline, the last story called "City Fall", and people were wondering if there would be a last story in that series. I'm still working on it. When it'll be done, who's to say?
> 
> Also, this is a VERY IMPORTANT FACT: since this story does deal with college-age people, it has college-level situations. There won't be anything overt that will warrant an M-Rating but there will be references and things implied of an adult nature. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that going in. I did do a rated-M/Explicit one-shot that I may add on my other Ao3 page soon. I'll let you know.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO BATMAN BEYOND OR THE AFOREMENTIONED SONGS. THIS IS PURELY A FAN MADE WORK FOR WHICH I RECEIVE NO PROFIT.

** Chapter 1 **

It hardly seemed like over four years since Batman returned to Gotham. Terry found it somehow hard to believe, himself, anymore. Almost every night involved jumping off of a rooftop in an all-black outfit that he fought crime in; he kept himself for saying it out loud for sanity’s sake. Max was his constant record of how long he had been at it; one more way she helped him maintain his sanity. Another, very relevant, way was the fact that she reminded him of all the good he had done. He never failed to let her know she was extremely valuable to him.

They made it out of high school in one piece, which, to them, was more of a wonder than any time Terry fought against Mad Stan and survived. With high school firmly behind them, the 21-year-old best friends were now enjoying the freedom of the college life as they attended the University of Gotham. Terry enjoyed it as much of it as he could, anyway, with Bruce finding more for him to do with his high school days behind him. With all their friends finding their futures outside of Gotham, except for Chelsea, Terry and Max were the only ones left of their graduating class who were still in Gotham. Howard and Jared came for visits often but no one else really did. Terry and Dana had already accepted their relationship was not going to go much further than it already, and ended it shortly after their graduation on mutual terms. Dana and her family moved to Coast City, so Dana could go to school and for her father’s new job.

Life had changed, that much was for sure. Terry and Max welcomed the change. There were new prospects, new friends, and new possibilities. The future was open for anything to happen and they knew one was certain: they would always be there for each other.

The spring semester was in full swing at the University with midterms not too far away. Terry and Max were in their favorite spot on the whole campus, the library, sitting on a bench and leaning their backs against each other, reading their own respective magazines. The library had five floors with the fifth being the most secluded, making it their favorite. Max was trying to focus but she kept hearing Terry humming.

“What are you humming?” she asked.

“Huh?” he snapped back. “What?”

“You’ve been humming. What are you humming?”

“Oh. Nothing. Just an old song I heard.”

“What song?”

“Nothing. Just an old one. Too embarrassing to even mention.”

She shook her head, “Nutcase.”

“Comes with the territory,” Terry defended.

Max giggled. “How’s the communication class going?”

“Okay. Just harder than expected.”

“Your constant source of communication is Bruce Wayne. No surprise there.” She looked over at him, “Switch.”

“How come I never get to say that?” He moved to press his back against the bench.

“‘Cause I outrank you, that’s why.” She moved underneath his arm, leaning against his side by his chest.

“That’s not a thing,” he put his arm on the bench.

“Okay, how about this: shut up, that’s why.”

Terry laughed and shook his head, surrendering to his demanding best friend.

Max made herself more comfortable. “Heard from Mel today.”

He grinned, flipping through the magazine with one hand. “Ah, the elder Gibson girl! How’s she doing?”

“Good. Her and Eddy are engaged.”

His eyes went wide; he looked down at Max. “Umm… schway! That’s awesome!”

She gave a small but sad smile. “Yeah.”

He kept staring. “That bothers you?”

She stopped to consider the question. “No. Yeah. I dunno. Just… since she moved back, I hardly get to see her, as is. I’m really gonna miss out on her, now.”

“Okay, yeah, that can suck,” Terry admitted. “Are they moving?”

“She didn’t say that.”

“Oh! So, no big deal. She’s just getting married, that’s all. Not leaving the city. If anything, you guys can bond over this. Maybe do some wedding planning together.”

Max hadn’t considered that. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course, I am! Incidentally, the best song for me to dance to is ‘Uptown Funk’.”

She jerked her head. “I _so_ did not know that.”

“What can I say?” he asked. “My dad played is so much, it became second nature.”

“Your dad could dance?”

“Not a bit. Just liked the song.”

“I even find that hard to believe.”

Terry chuckled. His cell phone beeped and he looked at it.

“The old man?” Max asked.

“Nah, he’s in Metropolis on business with the Big S for a couple of days. This is an alert.”

She motioned for him to show her the phone. He brought it closer to her, she looked at the screen and groaned. “Jokerz again.”

“Been stepping up since last year. I better find Basem. Duty calls.” She moved so he could stand up.

“Right.” She smirked, “Stay sharp, McGinnis.”

“Stay perfect, Gibson.”

* * *

As on any other night, Terry was again garbed in the Batman uniform, heading for the center of the city where the Jokerz were robbing a bank. As he flew the night sky in the Batmobile, a grey airbike pulled alongside him, piloted by Nightrunner.

“Hey, brother,” Nightrunner greeted via their communicator.

Batman smiled. “Yo!”

“So, what’s the problem again?”

“Stupid clothes, painted faces.”

Nightrunner narrowed his eyes. That described nearly all the gangs in Gotham. “Narrow it down.”

“Joy buzzers,” Batman added.

“Ah! Jokerz.”

They flew toward the bank and they saw a group of about ten Jokerz beginning to make their exit to a transport waiting on the roof.

“You wanna go in first?” Batman asked.

“Delighted to do so,” Nightrunner answered. He jumped off his airbike and tackled two of the Jokerz to the ground.

Nightrunner, real name Basem Asselah, is the son of the original Nightrunner, Bilal Asselah. As part of the Justice League and formerly based in Paris, France prior to two years ago, Nightrunner came to Gotham to aid Batman in any growing threats of crime as Terry’s life became more hectic with college. It took a lot of convincing from both Terry and Superman, but, once Bruce agreed to it, Terry and Basem worked together like well-oiled machine after just six months of teaming together. Terry gained not only a partner in his war against crime but another brother in his normal life, as well.

Nightrunner dodged an initial pipe swing from one of the Jokerz. His suit wasn’t as high-tech as Batman’s, but Nightrunner was able to hold his own due to extensive training he had since he was a kid. The Nightrunner suit was not that dissimilar from Basem’s father’s old uniform, except it covered his entire body, leaving no part exposed. The suit was highly bullet-resistant and mostly impact-proof. It was equipped with a utility belt, and gloves and boots that enabled him to make further jumps and briefly stick to walls, which also allowed for more power behind his attacks. Nightrunner’s mask was also equipped with a built-in radio. His choice of long-range projectile were his stinger bits, which functioned more as darts than the usual batarangs. Nightrunner’s fighting style was based on parkour and free running combined with mixed martial arts. It wasn’t as fluid as Batman’s style but it was far more brutal upon impact.

Getting tired of merely observing the action, Batman descended from the Batmobile and tackled a group of three Jokerz. Batman He kicked another Joker across the face and punched another. Batman and Nightrunner fought through them with fair easiness until three of the gang members pulled out assault rifles.

“RUNNER!” Batman shouted.

Nightrunner looked up and immediately jumped back. He and Batman ducked behind some of the fixtures on the roof as the Jokerz opened fire.

Nightrunner covered his head. “Any ideas?!”

Batman kept his head down but activated the system of the Batmobile, which fired nonlethal rounds that knocked out the gun-carrying Jokerz.

Nightrunner looked, saw the Jokerz were down, and chuckled. “Nice!”

The Gotham knights proceeded to wrap up the gang members, leaving them for the police. They stood on a nearby building as the GCPD came to arrest the clowns.

“Just another boring Gotham night,” Batman remarked.

“Yeah,” Nightrunner agreed. He threw his fists in the air and shouted, “Man, I _love_ this town!”

Batman laughed. It was a good night.

* * *

The next day, Max was walking out of her last class for the morning when she found Terry waiting for her, sitting on the floor of the hallway.

“Hey,” Max smiled.

“Hey,” Terry replied, standing up.

“How’d last night go?” she asked, as they started walking down the hallway.

“Typical.” He yawned and stretched. “Except for the machineguns. That was more mediocre.”

“Only you would call that even close to typical or mediocre.”

“It’s a living.”

“A dangerous one.”

“Still a living.”

“How’s B?” she asked.

He smiled. “Fierce as ever. Guy impresses me every time I get to watch him fight.”

“You could learn a thing or two from him.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah.”

She giggled. “Hey, I meant to ask you last night, how’s your mom?”

He chuckled. “Pretty good. Her and Matty are still loving Central City.”

“Better than here?”

“She said that it’s the same in a lot of ways. Insanely lower crime rate, though.”

“Well, when your hero is the Flash and he can be everywhere at once…”

“Hey!” Terry replied. “Effort is put forth here.”

“Yeah, but Batman doesn’t have super-speed,” Max pointed out.

“Batman has other things.”

She giggled. “Like what?”

He thought for a second. “Really good friends.”

“Nice way to win points, McGinnis.”

“Thank you. I try.”

“Hey, Max!” a voice called out behind.

“Dammit,” Max whispered out. “Hoping I’d dodge him.”

“Be nice,” Terry whispered to her.

“I hate being nice.”

“Do it, anyway.”

They turned around to see Ket Gold approaching them. Ket was the son of an affluent family of Gotham and, basically, was at the University to pass the time as he took no classes seriously. Except for the ones he shared with Max. By all accounts, he was a good-looking guy; he stood at the same height as Terry but his build was less impressive that the hero’s. He had shoulder length blonde hair, dark green eyes, and sported diamond stud earrings. Nearly all of the ladies considered him to be the best-looking guy on campus; Max fell in the other category.

Max forced a casual grin, “Hey, Ket.”

“Hey,” Ket greeted with his suave voice. “Almost didn’t catch you.”

‘ _Was hoping you wouldn’t,_ ’ she thought.

Terry faked a sneeze and, lightly, elbowed her. Max glared at him as she rubbed the fresh abrasion on her arm.

“You okay, McGinnis?” Ket asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Terry waved his hand in front of his face. “Allergies.”

“Careful,” Max warned. “I know a home remedy that’ll just… _knock_ … you out!”

“Oh! Do tell!”

Max rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. She looked back at Ket. “What can I do for you, Ket?”

“I was wondering if we could get together to study soon,” Ket replied. “This semester is killing me.”

“Uh…” Max sighed. “Um, I’ll check my schedule and let you know, okay?”

“Okay, sure thing.”

Max grabbed Terry’s arm. “We better get going. We got an appointment to keep. C’mon, Terry!” She dragged her best friend off before anymore words could be exchanged.

Ket sucked his teeth, following Max’s form as she walked away, then he walked off his own way.

* * *

Once outside, Max stopped rushing Terry and sighed. “Thank goodness.”

Terry shook his head, “You could’ve been a little nicer with that.”

“Not really.”

He laughed. “Wanna ride home?”

“Sure. Can we grab some food first?”

“No problem.”

* * *

After eating with Terry and he dropped her off at her apartment complex, Max walked up to her door, getting her keys out, when Sally walked up to her. Max saw her coming and smiled. “Hey! I thought you’d be home already.”

Sally Croft stood the same height as Max. Her fair skin always helped her dark make up really stand out on her face. She sported punk rock-style clothing, complete with her bright green colored hair that hung down just past her shoulders. “I was supposed to be if I hadn’t been caught in the lab cleaning up,” she explained.

“I won’t ask cleaning up what.” Max opened the door to the apartment, and they went inside.

“Brett cut his arm and was bleeding everywhere.” Sally closed and locked the door behind them.

“Sal, I didn’t wanna know that.”

“But it was funny! He thought he was cutting the cadaver’s arm.”

“Why’d you clean it up?”

“Because everyone else was trying to help him and I couldn’t ‘cause I was laughing too hard.”

“Oh, you’re evil,” Max said.

Sally shrugged, “Maybe a little.”

Sally was an old friend of Max’s from when they were children. Sally’s family moved to Star City due to her father’s work when she and Max were 10, and Sally hadn’t been back to Gotham since, though she and Max used various methods to stay in touch. When the ladies graduated from their respective high schools and Max declared she would stay in Gotham to go to school, Sally asked Max if she could come out there and they could get a room together while Sally worked on becoming a doctor. Sally’s parents gave her their blessing and the new adventure began. Max and Sally’s friendship had only grown since then with Terry and Basem also becoming friends with Sally.

Sally threw her stuff down on the couch, “Good to be home. Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Don’t have one,” Max answered heading to her room.

Sally let out a disgusted moan, “Still? Fine, I’ll call him by his name: where’s Terry?”

“He’s out and about,” Max called from her room.

“Cool. He coming by tonight?”

Max walked back into the living room, wearing more comfortable clothes, “Never know. Why?”

Sally smirked, “In case I need to clear out.”

Max glared at her.

“What? At least, I’m considerate enough to offer!”

“Shut up, Sal.” Max heard her cell phone vibrate then fished out of her backpack.

“Speak of the devil?” Sally asked.

“No, it’s Melissa.” Max answered, “Hey, big sis!”

“What up, Mel?!” Sally screamed.

Max giggled. She looked at Sally, “She says ‘hey, girl!’”

“Awesome!”

“ _So, Max, I gotta ask you something,_ ” Mel declared.

“What’s up?” Max replied.

“ _Me and Eddy want to go to dinner with you._ ”

Max stopped then slowly sat on the couch. “What?”

“ _Dinner._ ”

“Just… the three of us?”

“ _Well, actually, that’s the other thing,_ ” Mel said, “ _I wanted to see if you wanted to bring Terry along._ ”

“Terry?” Max asked.

Sally stopped what she was doing and leaned closer.

“How come?”

Sally started batting her eyelashes, leading Max to start swatting at her. Letting out a silent laugh, Sally went into the kitchen to retrieve some leftovers.

“ _Because Terry’s like family,_ ” Mel explained. “ _Eddy needs to meet as many of as possible and, since he’ll probably never spend more than five minutes around Dad and you and McGinnis come as a package deal, Terry might as well come._ ”

“Oh, God…” Max groaned.

“ _Besides, who else means more to you than Terry?_ ”

Max couldn’t even dispute that fact. “I’ll ask him. But you know he’s always busy.”

“ _We’ll work around his schedule. Whenever he has time, let me know._ ”

Mel’s insistence was leaving Max curious. “Why do want him there so bad?” Max put on a sarcastic tone, “Am I not good enough for you?”

“ _Oh, turn that noise off, you drama queen,_ ” Mel replied.

Max giggled.

“ _Look, Eddy wants to meet the family. Know what he’s getting into. As long as you’ve been around Terry, that includes what he’s getting into._ ”

“Okay.”

“ _And…_ ”

“And?” Max asked.

Mel sighed. “ _Max, I know this is a little rough for you, right?_ ”

Max rolled her eyes. Yes, this was bothering her. The prospect of Melissa getting married and, possibly, putting a divide between them, which seemed to be a family trait, wasn’t something she was looking forward to. “No.” She wasn’t going to admit it, however.

Mel smiled, knowing the lie. “ _Alright. Anyway… I just think that… this will make sure you have fun. You won’t feel like a third wheel. Plus, Terry does all he can to make you smile._ ”

Max smiled. “Thanks, Mel. That… really will help.”

“ _No problem. You talk to Terry and work out a time. Okay?_ ”

“Okay. I mean, but we have midterms coming up.”

“ _We can wait._ ”

“Alright but what if…”

“ _No ‘what ifs’! Ask him. When he’s free, we’ll make it happen. Cool?_ ”

Max nodded. “Cool.”

“ _Alright,_ ” Mel said. “ _Bye, baby sister. Love you._ ”

“Love you, too, big sis.” Max ended the call and saw Sally sitting on their kitchen counter, eating some leftover Chinese food and wearing a knowing grin on her face. “What?”

Sally swallowed. “Did your sister finally get you to date Terry?”

“It’s not a date!”

Sally hopped off the counter and walked toward her room, “Keep telling yourself that.”

Max growled. “She just wants me and Terry to go to dinner with her and Eddy!”

“Oh!” Sally turned back around, returning to the living room. “The fiancé. Nice.”

“I’m gonna wait until after midterms, though. Less to stress about.”

“Fair enough. I’ll bet Terry’s gonna like hearing this news. I mean, he just… loooooves…”

Max stared at Sally, cautious at how Sally was going to complete the thought.

“…Mel. Right?” Sally went into her room before Max could answer.

Max shook her head then ran her fingers through her hair. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to spending an evening with an engaged couple, even if it was Mel, but the fact that Terry would be there did make the idea of it that much easier to bear. Though Max couldn’t admit it to herself, there was more than one reason for that.


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2 **

Two weeks had passed since Max talked to her sister and the midterm exams of the University had passed only a few hours ago. Terry and Max were relaxing in their favorite spot, reading magazines to pass the time, when Terry felt Max’s leg trembling. She was nervous over her midterm grades; he rolled his eyes at the notion. Of all the students at the University, Max was the last person who had to worry about her grades. Some things never changed, however.

Terry knew he could bring her out of it, even if temporarily. “Do you think that Romeo is the biggest idiot in all of Shakespeare?”

Max looked up, slowly, forgetting all about her anxiety and doing her best to keep from laughing out loud. “That is… the _dumbest_ question you have ever asked me.”

“What? How?” he asked, feigning surprise.

“Ignoring why that even entered your mind, what do you base your argument on?”

“Okay, go with me: he falls for his worst enemy, marries her, gets his best friend killed, kill her cousin, then kills himself just because he thinks his girlfriend’s dead.”

“Juliet was his wife,” Max corrected. “They got married, like you said.”

“Marriage was too stupid,” Terry argued. “I don’t recognize it.”

She giggled. “That last part wasn’t his fault. She didn’t give him enough time to know her plan of faking her own death. And Juliet is just as stupid.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that.”

She laughed. “You are so weird.”

“I was just trying to distract you,” he admitted.

“From what?”

“Midterms. You read that page any more you’re going to imprint the words on your brain.”

“I just wish the grades would post already!” she groaned.

“Will you stop worrying?” he asked. “You’re going to do fine. You stress over midterms and finals every semester and every semester you pass with flying colors.”

“Ever think that the stress is the reason I pass?”

“No. Your gigantic brain is the reason you pass.”

“And the stress helps that,” she reasoned.

“No, it doesn’t,” he argued.

“Does so.”

“I am so not gonna argue with that.”

“That’s what you’re doing right now!”

He rolled his eyes. “Nut case.”

“Look who’s talking.” An alert came to Max’s phone. She pulled it out and her eyes widened. “Grades are in.”

“Finally! Let’s get this over with and look at the A’s you got for all five classes.”

She brought the page with her grades, “Oh, I did not get A’s for all five…” She scrolled through her midterm grades and whispered, “I got A’s for all five classes.”

He leaned back, “Terry McGinnis, for the win!”

“Shut up!” She exhaled in relief and smiled. “Thanks, though.”

“No problem.”

“You gonna check yours?”

He laughed. “Not a chance!”

“Why?” she asked.

“I’ll save bad news for later!”

“Just check ‘em!”

He groaned. “Fine!” He checked his phone for the grades on his three classes. “Eh. Not bad. Two C’s and a B.”

She brightened. “Hey! That’s awesome!”

He shrugged, “No A’s but it’s okay.”

“No, Terry, that’s awesome! That’s amazing!”

“What? Why?”

“Because you worked hard and you got those grades!” she pointed out. “All of the craziness in your life. Do you remember how hard it was for you in high school?”

He groaned, “Ugh! Don’t remind me.”

“I have to. You earned them!”

He chuckled. “Yeah… yeah, I guess I did.”

“Be proud of yourself, McGinnis,” she advised.

“Only because you want me to, Gibson.” He thought about it. “And because I earned it.”

“There you go!”

“Thanks for all the help, Max. Seriously. Now, I’ll just need your help when Finals come around.”

She smiled. “You got it. So, you hungry?”

“I just found out that I don’t have to repeat any classes. For now, anyway. What do you think?”

She giggled. She sobered and remembered an item she needed to discuss. “Hey, I wanted to tell you something.”

He looked at her, concerned at her change in tone. “Something wrong?”

“No, but… Mel wants us to go to dinner with her and Eddy.”

He looked around then back at her. “Aaaand you don’t want me to?”

“No, of course not!” she replied, urgently. “That’s not it! I want you to go. If-if you want to.” She paused. “I just…”

He studied her. “You don’t want to.”

She gave a quick shrug.

He sighed. “Max…” His cell phone rang, and he groaned. “Hold on a second.” He fished the phone out of his pocket and saw it was Basem. He answered, “What’s up, B?”

“ _Hey, brother,_ ” Basem greeted. “ _Need a little help._ ”

“What’s going on?”

“ _Remember how we were looking to find out how the Falcones were getting so much money into Gotham? Well, I found out they’re using a boat to move their money and drugs around._ ”

“Good.”

“ _Problem is I don’t know which boat. They have a couple in the marina._ ”

“Go onboard each one and search them, stupid,” Terry insulted.

Basem put on his best sarcastic tone, “ _Thank you, dumbass. I didn’t think of that._ ”

Terry rolled his eyes.

“ _I’ve been a couple of the boats already, but nothing was there. There are some other boats with no records of who owned them, and I didn’t find any money or drugs in what I’ve searched so far._ ”

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“ _Find out what other boats they might have,_ ” Basem replied. “ _Let me know which one might be the one they’re moving the money with._ ”

“Run a search on the internet!” Terry commanded.

“ _Again, you moron, I tried that. I got nowhere! It must be something deeper. C’mon! I need the help!_ ”

Terry growled. “Fine. I’ll call you back.” He ended the call and grunted.

“Problem?” Max asked.

He sighed. “B’s an idiot.”

“Birds of a feather.”

“Watch it, Gibson.”

She giggled, mischievously. “What did he want?”

“I gotta look up something for him.” Terry looked around to make sure they were alone then pulled out his laptop from his backpack that was linked to the Batcomputer. He went to a nearby carrel desk and set up the laptop. “Be a lookout for me. In the meantime, call Mel and tell her ‘hell, yes’ to dinner.”

Her breath caught a bit. “Are you sure?”

“Did I stutter?”

She let out a sigh. “When?”

“Two nights from now,” he answered.

“That’s soon.”

“Sooner the better. Besides, B doesn’t mine covering for me. He can hold down the fort until I get out there.”

“Bruce is gonna have a cow about B being out there without you so much,” she informed.

“I doubt that.” He got on the computer and started running searches on the Falcones. “Even if he does, he’ll get mad, give me lecture, and life will move on like always. All good.”

“I guess so. Are the Falcones really that big a problem again?”

“They’re trying. When they came back to Gotham a year ago, they’ve been doing everything they can to get a foothold back in the criminal underworld.” He started typing away.

“They didn’t even have control when Black Mask ran things back when Bruce was doing his thing,” she noted.

“Well, they hope things have changed. They’re trying to get back in charge. That’s why we’re gonna stop ‘em.”

She nodded. She stood by, for a minute, as he kept searching. “Well, how much longer is this gonna take?”

“How should I know?” he replied. “B was right. They really covered their tracks.”

“So, save it for later!”

“Can’t. We gotta get to ‘em ASAP. That way, they got no chance to gain any ground.”

“But I’m huuuuuuungrrrrrry!”

“Oh, stop whining! You get five A’s and you turn into a crybaby.”

“You can’t do this later?” she asked. “Why can’t Bruce send it to him?”

“He keeps going to Metropolis for any random reason,” he answered. “Plus, me and B give him more time to run the company. So, I’m B’s last resort.”

“And he can’t just do this himself?”

“Have you seen him on a computer? He’s screws up searches on Google. It’s why his suit doesn’t have that much tech to it.”

She groaned.

He rolled his eyes. “Look, just give me a few more minutes and we can go.”

Max observed Terry as he typed and rolled her eyes, “Oh, God, you talk about B and _your_ typing skills still suck.”

“I get by, thank you.”

“You type like a 85-year-old woman.”

“I don’t see you helping.”

She scoffed. “Fine.” She moved in front of him, scooted him back a little, sat in his lap, and began typing away.

Turning red almost immediately, Terry avoided looking down at Max’s rather impressive backside seated right on his leg, and very close to certain areas. He was doing everything he could to concentrate on something else, _anything_ else. It wasn’t easy.

Max, on the other hand, couldn’t help but make fun of him. “Been a while since you’ve had a beautiful girl this close to you, huh?”

He decided to play it off, anything to keep his mind focused. “Well, I guess you’re as close as I can get.”

“I’m the best you’ll ever see.”

He shrugged. “You say that, but I can’t help but notice _you_ jumped in _my_ lap.”

“Maybe I feel sorry for you,” she replied.

“Nah. I think you just couldn’t help yourself.”

“Your ego is amazing.”

“Said the cape to the cowl.”

She nodded, “Good one.”

“I’ve been working on them,” he admitted.

She typed a little more, “Got it.” She sent the information off to Basem. “Done.” She looked at him. “See?”

He stared at her, quietly. “What were we talking about?”

She looked him up and down, “Oh, my, Mr. McGinnis.” She playfully smacked his chest. “Enough playtime, Batboy. I’m hungry.” She slowly got up from his lap.

He looked at her, curiously.

“What? I figured it was fun for you, so I didn’t wanna cut you off too soon. Or too quickly.”

“You saying it wasn’t fun for you?”

Not looking at him, she grabbed her backpack. “Never said that.” She headed for the exit.

He smiled, got his stuff together, and followed after her.

* * *

The duo went to a 24-hour diner chain, Lou’s, another favorite spot of theirs, which served all kinds of food at all their hours. It was the perfect spot for them because it was always open and, at the location they frequented, it was relatively private. They even got to know the waitstaff and tended to order some of the same items every day. Tonight, it was breakfast for them both.

As Max ate her omelet, she asked, “Do you think it’s too predictable we come here so much?”

Terry put salt and pepper on his eggs, “If you’re referring to my job, if anyone is looking for me and has my routine down this much, knowing where I eat is the _least_ of my problems.”

She shrugged, “True.” She pushed the food around and sighed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar. Out with it.”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“What about?” he asked.

“Mel,” she answered. “Her being engaged.”

“What about it?”

“Do you think any of us Gibsons can make a relationship work?”

He considered her question. “The Gibson girls? Absolutely. I think you both saw where things went wrong and how. You’re smart. You’ll know how to make them right.”

“Well…” she said, “I guess, positive people around us does help.”

“We try.”

She scoffed. They went on to eat their meal in silence for a while.

After another few minutes, Terry looked up for a second then back at his food, “So, this is random but I’m bringing it up, what’s up with Ket?”

Max groaned and rolled her eyes, “Nothing. Believe me.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“He seems to like you,” he pointed out.

“Don’t remind me,” she replied. “He’s always trying to talk to me and crap, but I don’t need that. I don’t have time for it. Plus, he’s not my type.”

“What is? I can’t help but wonder.”

She paused, trying to search for an answer. To her surprise, she couldn’t come up with one. “Dunno. Haven’t thought about it in a long time.”

He nodded, understandingly. “Well, don’t lead the guy on. He might find it hard to resist himself. Then, I’d have to break his… everything.”

“Worried about me?”

“I always do.”

She smiled. “Thanks but I can handle him.”

“Long as you’re sure,” he said.

She pushed her food around. “Speaking of people we tend to be awkward around, do you really want to come to dinner with Mel and Eddy?”

“Duh.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure. You could just be being nice. I wasn’t gonna assume.”

“Admit it: you want a way out.”

“Am I that obvious?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “Just don’t let Mel see that. She’ll start to think you don’t want to help her with the wedding or, worse, don’t want her to get married.”

“I’m worried it’ll be a disaster.”

“Because of you?”

She didn’t want to admit that but gave a slow nod. “It’s a lot of things but that’s one. I’m worried I’ll mess this up. That I’ll be the reason Eddie’ll be like, ‘never mind, can’t do it’.”

“Are you saying that you’d be a deal breaker?” he asked, exasperatedly.

“It’s not as ridiculous as you just made it sound. My family’s known for ruining happy occasions.”

“You’ve never ruined any of mine.”

“Exception of the rule.”

“Or maybe the rule is a load of crap, and you’re freaking out for some reason that isn’t entirely clear to me yet.”

She glared at him.

“And the Maxine-Stare-of-Hatred-But-Not-Really doesn’t work on me,” he declared. “I know it too well.”

“You have a name for it?”

“You use it on me enough. I better.”

She laughed.

“Don’t stress about this,” he advised. “We’re gonna go out with Mel and Eddy and everything will be fine.”

“Ya sure?”

“Positive. This is one of the few things I am actually sure of.”

She smiled, “Thanks, Terry.”

He winked at her.

* * *

Later that night, Batman and Nightrunner found one of the newest Gotham gangs, the Yellowjackets, storming a bar downtown. They leapt into action, fighting the gang members left and right. The fight didn’t seem like it was going to last long at first until one of the Yellowjackets arrived on the scene with a large exo-suit, standing about 8-feet tall. The suit was colored yellow with large fists, resembling more of a power loader.

Batman stared at it, blankly. “Huh.”

The exo-suit swung at the heroes, forcing them to dodge. Nightrunner charged at the suit and drove both boots into it for a kick, causing it to stumble a bit. Batman threw a batarang that lodged into one arm of the suit, causing it to short out. Nightrunner jumped on the other arm, placed two small explosives on the arm, jumped off, and detonated them, rendering the arm useless. The suit was practically inoperable now but the Gotham knights had to finish it off. They charged in and delivered a hard double kick to the suit, sending it to the street. The pilot started to climb out, only to be met with a fist from Batman. The heroes saw that most of the gang members escaped during the battle.

“Crap…” Batman whispered.

* * *

Batman and Nightrunner sat on the edge of a building, looking at the police arrest the Yellowjacket members that didn’t get away.

“Well, that _sucked!_ ” Batman complained.

“You can say that again,” Nightrunner agreed. “At least, we got some of them.”

“Should’ve been able to get more.”

“How were we supposed to know they had a damn armor?”

“Not an excuse.” Batman paused. “Oh, God! I sound like him!”

Runner laughed. “We’ll find them.”

“Hope so.”

Runner sighed. “So, after patrol, how about some food? It’ll be just in time for breakfast.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Batman replied. “I think I pretty much burned off the dinner I had with Max. I could probably go for a bite.”

“Schway.” Nightrunner looked around then back at Batman. “You ever gonna tell her you’re in love with her or are you waiting for some big event?”

Batman’s head shot up and stared at Runner in silence for a few seconds. “Where… _the hell_ … did that come from?!”

Runner shrugged, “Simple observation.”

Batman groaned, “Oh, God!”

“I’m just asking!”

“I’m not in love with Max!”

“First lie of the night and it only took two hours. Not bad.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m not trying to piss you off,” Runner said.

“Really?” Batman asked, irritably. “You amazingly failed.”

“I’m just making a simple observation.”

“Keep your ‘observations’ to yourself.”

“I think I have a point, though.”

Batman growled.

“Listen, brother,” Runner said. “Hear me out.”

Batman stared at Runner for a few seconds, contemplating to let him keep going. He eventually conceded. “Talk.”

“Ever since I came to Gotham and you and Bruce let me become part of this, she’s been there. Good or bad, she’s been there. She even helps us as much as the old man. Besides that, every second you have downtime, you’re with her.”

“It’s not every second.”

“Close enough but that’s an argument for another time,” Runner replied. “It’s not like you can ignore how much you care about her.”

Batman sighed. “I’m not saying I don’t care about her.”

“Then what?”

Batman stood up. “It’s same reason I didn’t let her in this life.”

“And that would be?”

Batman gazed at the city. “I know someday it’s gonna come down to life or death. I mean, no getting around it, ya know? I’m not stupid. I know it’s coming. I don’t wanna put that on her.”

As much as that made sense, Runner scoffed. “Haven’t you been friends since high school? Been with you, no matter what? Hell, didn’t she even stay in Gotham after she graduated when she could’ve gone anywhere?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then, brother, no matter what happens next… she’s in it. You mean to tell me, if came to a life or death fight and you didn’t make it, she would cry any less than if you didn’t tell her?”

There was a question that Terry didn’t see coming. He didn’t know how to answer that right now. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever know how. “Night’s not over. Let’s get back to work. Maybe we can find the rest of those Yellowjackets.” He extended his wings and flew off.

Nightrunner scoffed. “Superman and Dick were right. He _is_ just like the old man.” He took off running and performed a flip off of the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

** Chapter 3 **

**_Two Days Later._ **

The night came for Max and Terry to meet with Melissa and Eddy. Max had been dreading this night and worried even more now that it was here. She was sitting on her couch with her leg trembling as she tried to drink a bottle of water to calm her nerves. It wasn’t working.

Sally walked out of her room, her arms covered in green.

“What’s with all the paint?” Max asked her.

Sally went to the fridge. “Art idea I had in my head. Had to get it on a canvas before I lost it.” She grabbed a bottle of green tea from the fridge.

Max gave a coy smirk, “You never had ‘it’?”

“Shut up.” Sally looked up and saw Max shaking a bit. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Waiting for Terry so we can go to dinner with Mel and Eddy.”

Sally examined Max’s dress. It was a flouncy blouson dress that featured a bungee necklace built into the sleeveless with a popover design, a ruched bodice that draped easily over the maxi-portion of the dress, and a necklace-style halter neckline clasps in the back. Given Max’s impressive measurements, Sally knew Max was always hard pressed to find something to wear that was nice. Max knocked it out of the park this time.

Sally could see something more was going on, though. “Are you stressing about this?”

Max sighed. “Yeah.”

“Why? I mean, Mel just wants you to come to dinner. So, what’s going on with you?”

“I dunno! I guess… I don’t wanna mess this up for her.”

“What? Did you used to date the guy?”

“No!” Max replied. “She’s been seeing Eddy for, like, years, and he’s older than me!”

Sally rolled her eyes. “Then what the slag are you freaking out about?”

“I just said I don’t know! I just wanna make a good impression. Eddy doesn’t know me that all well, okay?”

“Okay, and have you ever sent him out of a room screaming?”

“No… but I could. I mean, like… maybe he won’t like me.” Max shrugged. “What if I’m the deal breaker?”

Sally looked at Max, intently. “I’m sorry. Where is Maxine Gibson?”

“Huh?”

“You don’t talk like this. You sound like every dumb girl in a Fabio novel. All weak and stupid. Ya know? A damsel in distress.”

Max narrowed her eyes. “Up yours, Croft.”

“Oh, there you are!” Sally smiled. “Be careful, Max. Your doppelgänger was here like 2 seconds ago.”

“Shut up, Sal.”

“You should get that printed on a t-shirt.”

Max smiled, “It’s on order.”

“That’s better!” Sally declared. “Are you done worrying about this?”

Max gave a small shrug.

Sally exhaled, harshly, “You’re gonna make me slap you! Why are you being dumb?!”

Max sighed. “Okay, okay. Sorry. I guess… I don’t know. You didn’t hear Mel’s voice when she called to tell me she was engaged. She was so friggin’ happy.”

Sally sat down at one of the stool chairs by the counter and folded her arms. “How do you think _you’re_ going to ruin that?”

“The advantage of the Gibson family? No one has to meet the rest of us.”

“Bull. I’ve met the rest of you and I love all of you.” Sally thought about that statement. “Well… I mean… I don’t know your dad that well.”

“You ain’t the only one.”

Sally sucked in air, sharply. “Sorry, kid.”

“Don’t be,” Max reassured. “Ain’t your fault.”

“And it ain’t yours, either. Your mom and dad aren’t you. You’re no ‘curse’ on anyone. You kick ass, Max. Eddy better see that or I’ll kick _his_ ass.”

Max couldn’t help but admit that Sally had the ability to bring her out of a lot of bad moods. She smiled, “Thanks, Sal.”

A knock came to the door.

“Hark!” Sally shouted, gleefully. “I believe that is young Lord McGinnis come to call on you!”

Max stared at her, perplexed. “Did you, seriously, just use the word ‘hark’?”

“Silence, fair maiden!” Sally hopped out of the chair and opened the door with a smile to find Terry standing there. “Ah! Lord McGinnis!”

Terry raised an eyebrow, “‘Lord’?”

“Verily! We graciously welcome you to our manor on the great evening!”

Terry walked in and looked at Max. He motioned toward Sally, “She been watching _Game of Thrones_ again?”

“Besides _Breaking Bad_ , what else does she watch?” Max stood up and took notice of his attire: a nice black suit and tie. Nothing overt or out of place. It was nice and looked great on him. Max was even started to feel a little heated. “Wow, Terry. You… clean up nice.”

Terry smiled. “Thanks.” He took in the ensemble Max was wearing and he was committing how she looked in it to memory. He exhaled, pleasurably, “Man. So, do you.”

“I mean, just…” Max stared at Terry, in awe. “Wow. It’s, uh, been a long time since I’ve seen you in a suit.”

Terry smiled. “It has been a while since we had to dress up.” He looked at Max’s dress. “And… it’s been a while… since I’ve seen you in a dress like that. You _really_ look good, Max.”

Max’s blushed deepened. “Thanks, Terry.”

Terry motioned toward the door. “Shall we?”

“Sure.”

As they left, Sally watched them leave and smiled as Terry put his arm around Max’s shoulder. After the door closed, Sally exhaled and whispered, “Please, you two. Please realize what we _all_ know.”

* * *

Max and Terry walked into Corella’s, stopping at the foyer and taking in the quiet and sophisticated atmosphere of the restaurant. Max looked around at this impressively elegant location; it was a place she’d never be able to afford if it wasn’t for the fact that her best friend worked for a billionaire. Her worry about how the evening could turn out came back to her. All the couples around her weren’t doing much to help that, either.

Terry could see it in Max’s straight face and her stiff shoulders: he didn’t know what was truly bothering about this yet, but he knew that it was. He lightly gripped her arm, rubbing it with his thumb against her arm.

She looked at him and smiled.

“C’mon,” Terry whispered. “You gotta keep classic Max goin’, if you don’t want Mel pestering you all night.”

“Right, right,” she exhaled. She took another deep breath. “Okay. I’m good.”

He looked her up and down. “Yeah, you are.”

“ _Terry!_ Stop checking me out!”

“Why?”

“Because, first of all, there’s nothing to check out!”

He looked over again, “I beg to differ.”

“I’m serious!” she replied. “This isn’t a ‘freak ‘em’ dress.”

“Really?” He motioned at her, “ _This_ isn’t a ‘freak ‘em’ dress?”

“Are you kidding? No! In no way, at all! I was going for casual classy. It’s not even all that tight! It’s just a nice dress that makes me look--what are you doing?”

He had leaned backward and, as far she could tell, was staring directly at her butt. She blushed, immediately.

“TERRY!” she whispered, through gritted teeth.

He pretended to just catch sight of her gaze and hear her. “I’m sorry, I got distracted. What were you saying?”

She elbowed him in the gut but giggled, “Jackass.”

“That’s better.” He rubbed his stomach. “You been workin’ out?”

“A little, when I can. Why?”

“That elbow was a little stronger than usual, Supergirl.”

“Want me to wear a short blue mini-skirt and midriff, McGinnis?”

“Doesn’t have to be blue,” he answered.

“Shut up, Terry,” she laughed. They walked up to the hostess.

The hostess smiled, “Good evening. How can I help you?”

“Hi,” Max greeted. “We’re looking for Melissa Gibson and Edward…” She paused and her eyes widened.

“Oh, my God!” Terry smiled. “You don’t know Eddy’s last name!”

“I do, too! It’s… uh…”

“Simmons?” the hostess offered, sheepishly.

“YES!” Max smiled at the hostess. “Thank you.”

Terry looked at the hostess, “Thank you…” He read her name tag. “Julie. You just saved her butt from hours of embarrassment.”

“Clam it up, McGinnis,” Max warned.

Julie smiled. “It’s okay. I recognized you, miss, when you walked in. You and your sister look alike and, if you don’t mind me saying, you both are really pretty.”

Max smiled. “Thank you, Julie. For the record, so are you.”

Julie blushed. “Thank you, miss.” She grabbed two menus, “If you both will follow me.”

Max and Terry trailed Julie through the lavish restaurant. It wasn’t their first time in a place like this, with the case of Terry chasing down the Brain Trust coming to both of their minds, but it was a change to be in a place like this with no international crime ring being involved. Terry’s habit for scoping out a scene made him assess pretty much every person they passed, but he had hard time focusing with Max walking right in front of him. Though he was joking earlier to get her to loosen up, it was hard to walk behind her and not stare at her; Max’s body was nothing short of being a work of art. He noticed she really must be working out. She looked way more toned than ever. Whatever she was doing, it was paying off.

They got to the table and Melissa and Eddy were sitting and talking, then they looked up at Max and Terry and smiled. Resembling her sister in the face, Melissa’s eyes were slightly narrower and were dark green and, while not quite as curvaceous as her younger sister, the red dress Mel was wearing did much justice to her amazing figure. Eddy was taller than Terry by two inches but had a more lean build than Terry. He sported a clean shaven head, goatee, and a shade lighter dark skin than the Gibson girls. With the confidence he carried himself with and the humility to not let it be overbearing, he made a run as the being the most handsome man in any room.

“Finally!” Mel declared. “You guys took forever!”

“We did not!” Max argued.

“Says you.” Mel looked Max over, taking note of how the dress clung to her and revealed her figure. “I gonna have to stop calling you ‘little’ sister. When did all this happen?”

Max groaned, “Mel!”

“Kidding! You clean up nice, Max.”

Max blushed. “Thanks.” She looked at Mel’s fiancé, “Hey, Eddy!”

“What’s going on?” Eddy greeted. He looked at Terry, “So, I finally get to hang out with the infamous Terry McGinnis in more than a passerby situation.”

“‘Infamous’?” Terry smiled. “Oooh. I like that.”

Julie looked at them all, “If I can say… you all look amazing tonight.”

“You’re sweet, Julie,” Terry remarked.

Julie started to walk away and muttered, “Wish I was that pretty.”

That caught Terry’s ear. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Come back a sec.”

Julie walked back over, “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

“Not at all, Julie. Just wanted to tell you something: I can tell you’re just working because you gotta make a living, but I’m pretty positive that the ‘being sweet’ part isn’t an act.”

Julie blushed a little.

“Don’t you think for a second you’re not a beautiful girl or a huge sweetheart,” Terry said. “You wanna good looking guy? Go outside and snap your fingers. They’ll come to you. I promise. And don’t settle for anything less than what you’re worth. You’re awesome. You deserve someone awesome.”

Julie put her hand over her mouth. “Thank you, sir.”

Terry nodded and winked at her.

Julie headed back to the front of the restaurant with a noticeable bounce in her step.

“Wow,” Eddy said. “That was really nice, man. You gonna ask her out?”

Terry shook his head, “Nah. I’m good where I am. She’s just too sweet to have any kind of low self-esteem. Help out whenever I can.”

Max smiled warmly at Terry’s act and explanation of it.

Mel caught sight of Max’s smile. “Always good to have you around, Terry.”

“I do what I can,” Terry replied.

They spent the next few minutes making small talk about other things until their dinner arrived. Mel noticed Max’s mood was nowhere what it was when all this first came up.

“So, Max never told me,” Terry said to Mel and Eddy, “how did you guys meet?”

“Max never told you?” Mel looked at her little sister, incredulously. “Max!”

“Don’t look at me!” Max defended. “He never asked before!”

Terry grinned, “Thought it better to get it from the source.”

“Oh.” Mel smiled. “That’s okay, then.”

Growling, Max rolled her eyes.

“I can tell you, man,” Eddy volunteered. “Since she didn’t want to go out with me first.”

“That is so not true! I just didn’t know who you were.”

Eddy stared at Mel, intently. “Yeah, that makes it better.”

Mel smiled.

Eddy chuckled and looked at Terry, “Anyway, I’ve had a… pretty messed up dating history.”

Mel let out disgusted sigh, “God, Terry, you should’ve seen some of the tricks he used to go out with.”

“I said ‘messed up’.”

“Yvonne only qualifies as ‘messed up’?”

Eddy narrowed his eyes at Mel, “How dare you mention that name.”

“It’s the one of the few times you get uncomfortable,” Mel replied.

“Anyway, again.” Eddy looked at Terry and Max, “My boy told me about this great amazing girl that he set me up with. At first, I told him, ‘hell, no.’ Then he said it was Melissa Gibson. I’ve never bought a tie so fast in my life.”

They all had a laugh at that.

“That big a deal, huh?” Terry asked.

“Well, we’d met before,” Eddy answered. “Seen her at a couple of parties around the college, but every guy who could see her wanted to ask her out or dance with her.”

“Or worse,” Mel groaned.

“She ruined a lot of relationships.”

“I didn’t do anything! It’s not my fault these girls date leeches!”

Eddy laughed. “You know that Sonya James still hates you. Her brother told me that the other day.”

Mel scoffed. “Tell him he can tell that…” She looked at Max then cleared her throat. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Max and Terry laughed.

“But,” Eddy went on, “we went out.” He looked at Mel, lovingly. “And we just worked.”

“Something I’m grateful for,” Mel smiled back.

“Three years later… and I can’t imagine a day without her. So, I got wise and got down on one knee. You have a good thing. Why wait for it?”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“That’s really cool, guys,” Terry nodded.

“Yeah,” Max agreed.

Terry glanced at Max then back at the couple. “When’s the big day?”

Eddy looked back at him, “We were thinking like… July or August.”

Max looked up, suddenly. “That’s kinda soon.”

Mel shrugged, “Why wait?”

Max thought she could come up with a reason but none came to mind. “Alright.”

“Sounds good to me,” Terry smiled.

“You agree to everything.”

“Not everything. I hate rats.”

“That has not a damn thing to do with anything we were just talking about.”

“No, you actually said…”

“Shut up!” Max ordered.

Eddy chuckled then looked at McGinnis, “Hey, Terry, I’ve always wanted to ask you something. Is it okay?”

Terry smiled, “Sure, man. Go for it.”

“What’s it like working for Bruce Wayne?”

Terry groaned and rolled his eyes, answering this question required no lying whatsoever, “Hard!” Everyone laughed. “He’s demanding. Old people thing, I guess.”

“More of a Bruce Wayne thing,” Max smirked.

“Probably. Anyway, he’s not so bad… when he’s asleep. But he’s got a lot of rules. And the absolute worst thing about working for him, the thing I can’t _stand_ the most!” Terry sighed. “He is, literally, always right.”

“Well, not literally.”

“Close enough.”

Eddy chuckled, “Wow. Everyone at his company seems to like him. Heard he’s always smiling and personable with everybody.”

“They deal with him eight hours a day in public where he has to be nice. Like he always says when I’m helping him at the manor,” Terry scowled and dropped his voice an active, “‘my house, my rules’.”

Max was impressed. “That was really good.”

“Thank you. Been working on it.”

Eddy chuckled. “Must get creepy in that old house of his, huh?”

“Ya know?” Terry replied. “Sad to say, it’s grown on me.”

“Because you’re getting just as dark and gloomy as him,” Max smirked.

Terry feigned offense. “Excuse me, miss, but how dare you?! I am the picture of joy and happiness. Why, children love me!”

“You’re like a hurt puppy. That’s why kids talk to you.”

“Is that why you find me so cute?”

“I find you supremely irritating.”

“You didn’t deny cute. Admit it.”

Max rolled her eyes. “I did just say ‘supremely irritating’, didn’t I?”

“Ah!” Terry waved her off. “You love me.”

“Never stopped you from being irritating.”

“It’s part my charm.”

“It’s part of your psychosis.”

“Okay, first off, I’m probably one of the sanest people you know.”

Max opened her mouth.

“Say something smart,” Terry preempted, “and I’ll put your phone number in guy’s locker room at the University.”

“Do it and I’ll do the same to you in the girl’s locker room.”

Terry scoffed. “You mean I’ll beat more women off with a stick? Who has that kinda time?”

Max laughed. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to hit you in the past thirty seconds?”

“Your record is 23.”

Mel beamed at seeing Max smiling so much. She was being herself: bossy, silly, smart, and fun. Terry always brought that out of Max. It was how she knew him coming to dinner was one of her best ideas.

“Wow,” Eddy said, amused. “Are you two always like this?”

“Only on days when their near each other,” Mel answered. “So, yes.”

“Life’s too boring,” Terry declared. “We have to keep things interesting.”

“Damn right,” Max agreed. They high-fived each other.

“I can’t wait to see what you’re like at our reception, Terry,” Eddy said.

Terry smiled. “Are you kidding? That’s the main reason I’m going. I hope guys are ready to see me out-dance everyone there.”

“And by ‘dance,’ he means have a full body seizure while still standing upright,” Max teased.

Terry turned to Max. “Those who lack all possible rhythm have no room to talk!”

“I don’t know who _you’re_ talking to! I have more rhythm than you!”

“You wish.”

“Just ‘cause you have decent karate skills doesn’t mean you can dance,” Max argued.

“Yes, it does,” Terry responded. “Besides, I’ve seen you spar. Based on that alone, I can out-dance you.”

“You wanna make a bet on that?”

“You’re damn right I do.”

“Oooh, this’ll be good,” Mel leaned forward.

Max giggled then looked back at her best friend, “The loser must do whatever the winner says, without question, for 24 hours.”

Terry stared at Max, realizing that was a dangerous proposition. “Deal.”

Max smiled, triumphantly.

“But if wanted a way to get me into bed, you could’ve just asked.”

Max punched Terry in the arm, as hard as she could.

“Ow!” Terry managed not to shout but let out a strained whisper. He stared at Max, wide-eyed. “I was joking! God!”

“You’re a jackass!” Max hissed.

“And you’re too sensitive!” Terry paused. “Wow. Never thought I’d say that about you.”

“Are you implying I have no emotions?”

“I’m saying you’re Maleficent. You don’t get invited to one party and you curse a baby.”

“I like kids! It’s adults that irritate me.”

“That makes you Jafar,” Terry corrected. “No, no. The Evil Queen. That’s it!”

Max stared at Terry in silence, slowly shaking her head. “Are you gonna go through the whole gamut of Disney villains?”

“That depends entirely on you, Cruella.”

“At least, I’m not always lost, _Nemo!_ ”

“That’s Pixar!” Terry pointed out. “Get your companies straight, Prince Hans!”

Max jerked her head back, “Oh! So, now I’m a guy!?”

“Based on that punch, _Ursula_ , sometimes, yeah!”

“You did not just compare me to Ursula, _Gaston!_ ”

“What?! Me? Gaston?”

“Did I stutter?”

As they continued to argue, Eddy leaned over to Mel, “You were right. This is, easily, the most fun and entertaining thing I’ve ever seen my life.”

“Told you so,” Mel smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

With Terry out for the evening, at least until the later hours, Basem was starting to get ready to go out on patrol without him. He slid on his uniform shirt and started putting on his gloves when his cell phone rang. He answered, putting it on speaker, “Basem.”

“ _Hey, there, stranger!_ ” Sally greeted.

Basem smiled as he continued suiting up, “Sal! What’s going on?”

“ _Nothing much. Just chillin’._ ”

“Cool.”

“ _What are you up to?_ ” Sally asked.

“About to head to work,” Basem answered.

“ _Down at the docks, right?_ ”

“Mom still won’t let me out of my ‘humility’ job.”

“ _I think her and Terry’s boss have the share brain waves._ ”

Basem smiled. “You’re probably right. That and my dad and Terry’s boss are old friends. Reason I got the job in the first place.” He scoffed, “And probably why I still have it.”

“ _Bruce Wayne has influence on your father’s parenting skills?_ ” Sally asked. “ _Whoa! Positive thoughts your way._ ”

“Thanks for that.”

“ _So, just to make sure, Terry’s nowhere near you, right?_ ”

“Nope,” Basem confirmed. “He’s still with Max, her sister, and the fiancé.”

“ _Oh, cool,_ ” Sally said. “ _I can talk to you with worrying about him being around._ ”

“What about?”

“ _About them. Him and Max._ ”

Basem chuckled. “Yeah, that’s an interesting subject.”

“ _Is it obvious to you, too?_ ” Sally asked.

“It’s obvious to everyone _but_ them.”

“ _Tell me about it. I like to call them ‘Tax.’_ ”

“Any reason?”

“ _Nope. They just needed a fused name._ ”

Basem had to chuckle again. Sally was good at making him laugh.

“ _So, what are we going to do about these two?_ ” Sally asked.

“Hell if I know,” Basem admitted. “Terry’s never been easy to read but…”

“ _You, either, but whatever._ ”

“I’m different. I’m typically hard to read.”

“ _Understatement of the year._ ”

“My point is, when it comes to Max, he’s an open book,” Basem explained.

“ _Tell me about it,_ ” Sally agreed.

“Since we’re on the subject, in this regard, does Terry have any competition?”

“ _Please! Like there would be any when it comes to Max. There is this one guy at University who keeps trying to talk to her: Ket Gold. I’ve met him and, personally, I think he’s a jackass. He likes Max and she thinks he’s okay, but no more than that._ ”

“She ever go out with him?”

“ _Nope and I plan on doing everything in my power to keep it that way._ ”

“Good,” Basem smiled.

“ _Question: how do you think Terry would take it if she went out with him?_ ” Sally asked. “ _Ket, I mean._ ”

“He’d lie and say that it wouldn’t bother him. But, again, he’d be lying.”

“ _Well, he ain’t gotta worry._ ” Sally grinned. “ _I only joke about making sure she wouldn’t date the jackass, but I don’t think she ever would. She’d, probably, feel like she was cheating on Terry. After all, my girl has it bad for your boy._ ”

“It’s amazing how much that vice is versa.”

“ _So, I ask again, what are you gonna do about them?_ ”

“There’s always kidnapping them and forcing them into a room until they admit they have feelings for each other,” Basem suggested.

“ _Don’t tempt me with that fantastically good idea,_ ” Sally declared. “ _‘Cause I’ll drive._ ”

Basem smiled. “I’m not entirely sure that I’m joking.”

Sally laughed. “ _Seriously, B, you’re awesome._ ”

“Right back at you.”

“ _We’ll figure something out. Sooner, rather than later._ ”

“We’ll you’re smarter than me. Whatever plan you come up with, I’m sold.”

“ _Oh, B, you know just how to sweet talk a lady._ ”

“I do what I can.”

“ _Have a fun at work!_ ” Sally said.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Basem picked up his mask and stared at it. “I plan to.”

* * *

After a lovely dinner at Corella’s and great time had by all, Max, Mel, Terry, and Eddy left the restaurant, standing outside to talk before departing.

“So, it’s over and we all had fun,” Mel said to Max. “Are you through freaking out?”

Max’s eyes widened. “You didn’t have to bring that up!”

“You freaked out about this?” Eddy asked Max.

Terry let out a groan. “Like you wouldn’t believe!”

“Terry!” Max chided.

“What? Mel said it first. I thought we could talk about it now.”

Eddy looked at Max, nervously. “Did… did I do something to make you uncomfortable?”

Max’s shot over to Eddy, “What? No! No, not at all! I just…” She sighed. “You’re a great guy, Eddy. I didn’t want you to think this family is full of nuts, of which, I am one. I thought… I’d be a… ya know… deal breaker?”

Mel stared at Max, irritably. “You little moron! Has _that_ been your problem?! I’m gonna smack you!”

“I’ll hold her down!” Terry raised his hand.

Mel moved her wrist around, “Grab her arms, Terry!”

“HEY!” Max shouted.

Eddy laughed at them all. He looked at Max, “Max, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and you haven’t met my groomsmen yet!”

Max shrugged. “I overthink things. Character flaw.”

Eddy let out a chuckle, “There are way worse than that. If that’s your main one, I’d say you’re ahead of the game. But, let me put all of this to bed for good. Max, you’re awesome, cool, and sweet. Did I factor you in when I asked Mel to marry me? Absolutely. And the ‘Max factor’ is a major positive.”

Max smiled as her worries finally fell away.

“‘Max factor,’” Terry smiled. “I like that.”

Eddy smiled. “Max, I love your sister. I can’t wait for her to be my wife and I can’t wait for you to be _my_ sister. The more family, the better.”

Max’s grin was permanently fixed on at this point and, out of nowhere, threw her arms around Eddy, hugging fiercely. Terry chuckled while Mel had to keep from crying.

Max let Eddy go and straightened his suit jacket. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Eddy shook his head.

“I can’t wait for you to be in the family, too.”

“Feels like I already am. Glad to be here.”

“Told you so!” Terry declared.

“Shove it,” Max replied.

“Welcome back.”

They all began to say their goodbyes; Terry and Eddy shook hands.

“You’re really awesome, Terry,” Eddy said. “Glad I finally got to get to know you.”

“Right back at you, man,” Terry replied. “Congrats again.”

“See you before the wedding? It would be great to hang out with you.”

“Oh, definitely.”

Mel smiled at them then looked at Max. She extended her arms to her and Max, happily, hugged. “Glad you made it, Max,” Mel said to her.

“Me, too,” Max agreed.

After the sisters released the hug, Mel looked at Terry, “And I am very glad you made it, too.”

Terry shrugged, “How could I not?”

Mel smiled, “Yeah. How could you not?” She walked up and hugged Terry and he hugged her back. They released the hug, “See you next time around.”

“Right back at you,” Terry nodded.

After that, both couples made their way to their separate vehicles.

“He’s… really nice,” Max remarked as she and Terry headed to his car.

Terry chuckled. “Eddy’s always been nice!”

She giggled, “You’ve spent like five minutes around him before this!”

“Well, he’s always been nice. Were you worried about that?”

“Well, I dunno. Maybe he was… putting on an act before.”

“Oh, come on!” Terry said. “Mel wouldn’t fall for someone like that. She’s way too smart. And, after three years, she’d know if he was and she sure as hell wouldn’t have said ‘yes.’”

Max shrugged, “I guess not. I guess I thought the pattern would repeat.”

“You don’t have a pattern.”

“The _Gibson_ pattern. You’ve seen it.”

“I’m a detective, remember?” Terry reminded. “I look for patterns and this isn’t one. Your mom and dad got a divorce and your dad has dreg-like attitudes. That’s one marriage that ended bad and one jackass. That’s not a pattern.”

“Okay, maybe,” Max replied, “but… doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, ya know?”

“What are you so worried will happen?”

“That Mel will be hurt. That it’ll go down in flames. That she’ll be heartbroken.”

Terry looked at Max then made a bold declaration. “No. No, I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged and whispered, “Call it Bat’s intuition but I have a good feeling about Eddy. I think he’s good for your sister.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Terry.”

“So, see? That breaks the pattern.”

“For her, sure.”

“Ah. So, that’s it.”

She looked at him.

“You’re worried that something like your mom and dad will happen to you.” They arrived at the car.

“Of course,” Max confirmed. “Despite what everyone says, I’m not perfect, Terry. Some guy who ends up with me… I’ll drive him crazy. He’ll get sick of me in no time.”

Terry stared at her and opened the door for her, “You’re way too worried about something that’s _not_ gonna happen.”

She didn’t get in and stared at him.

He knew she wanted him to explain further. “You’re not gonna end up with someone who’ll drop you for no reason, Max. It’s stupid for you to even think that would happen.”

She looked into his eyes, finding nothing but sincerity. “You sound so sure.”

“I am.”

“Why?”

“Because any man lucky enough to have you make the decision to be with him, will know he has a good thing and never be stupid enough to let you go. It doesn’t matter what quirks you have, Max. It doesn’t matter how your family behaves or the problems they’ve had in the past. You’re a hell of a woman and any man who gets to be with you? _He’s_ the lucky one. Never the other way around. Ever. And you better not ever think otherwise.”

At first, Max had no idea how to react. That meant so much to her. “Wow. Thanks, Terry.”

Terry smiled. “No problem.”

They got in the car.

“But…” She looked away then looked back at him. “No matter who life has in store for me… I hope you always know that… you believing in me… has always made all of the difference in the world.”

“I hope you know the same always rings true for me, too.”

“If I ever forget… just remind me.”

“Deal.”

* * *

Eddy and Melissa got in his car and, before he started it up, he thought for a second. He looked at Mel, “Hey, baby?”

“Yeah?” she responded.

He started the car and began to back out of the parking space. “Max and Terry. Are they…”

“No. But only because they’re both shy as hell.”

He started driving down the road, “Who? Them?”

She thought about their behavior at the restaurant. “Sorry, ‘shy’ is the wrong word. They’re… confused.”

“Confused how?”

“They like each other but they don’t know how to approach it since they’re best friends. They’re really close so that causes them to worry.”

“Have they really known each other since high school?”

“Yep. They’ve best friends since about… what, junior year? I think it was junior year. I gotta ask Max again. Hell, at this point, it’s hard to remember a time when they _weren’t_ friends.”

“And they’ve never…” He searched for the correct way to phrase it, “hooked up, I guess is the safest way to put it.”

She giggled. “Nope.”

“Are you sure? Max has been left to herself a lot.”

“True, but, trust me. She would’ve told me or I would’ve been able to tell.”

“How?” he asked.

“It’s a sister thing,” she answered.

“Gotcha.”

“Anyway, as far as that goes, Max isn’t that kind of girl. More to the point, Terry isn’t that kind of guy. He has way too much respect for Max to ever try. He has way too much respect, period. He wouldn’t try to convince her to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

“How do you know he wants to?”

“Oh, he’s a guy and they met in high school! Of course, he wants to! Plus, she’s a Gibson girl. Hotness runs in the family.”

“No argument here,” Eddy declared.

Mel laughed. “Anyway, like I said, Max and Terry aren’t like that. I mean, nothing’s stopping them now. But back then, when they were in high school, aside from the respect, Terry had a girlfriend. And he’s not a cheat or some dreg.”

“He doesn’t seem like it. I like him.”

“Me, too. So does Mom.”

“You’d think they’d be good together.”

“They’d be _great_ together. He makes Max happy without them being in a relationship.”

“Then why not push ‘em together?” he asked. “Ya know. Work a little magic?”

“Magic doesn’t work on Max,” she pointed out.

“Does sisterly advice?”

Mel looked at him and smiled. “See? That brilliance? That’s just one more reason why I said ‘yes’ when you asked me to marry you.”

Eddy smiled, brightly. “Good for me.”


	5. Chapter 5

** Chapter 5 **

The following morning, Max was at the dining room table in her apartment, eating a bowl of chocolate cereal. Sally emerged from her bedroom, a little groggy and her hair a mess.

As she was scratching her head, Sally looked at her roommate. “Hey.”

“Morning!” Max greeted with a smile.

“What time did you get in?”

“Around 11. You were out like a light.”

“Oh, yeah.” Sally walked over and grabbed a bowl. “Late night, finishing my painting.”

“On what?”

“Just a green pasture and some mountains.”

Max was waiting for more and, to her surprise, nothing more came. “What? That’s it?”

Sally looked up at her after grabbing a cereal box, “What do you mean ‘that’s it’?”

“Usually, you’re so… out there. Your art projects sometimes take random paper towel cardboard rolls or something.”

“I can be normal when the occasion calls for it!” Sally defended.

“What hour of your life were you ever exposed to normalcy?” Max asked.

“My mom happens to be quite normal, thank you!”

“None of it rubbed off.”

“Bite me.” Sally poured herself a bowl of cereal. “How was dinner?” She grabbed a carton of milk and poured it in the bowl, as well.

“Good,” Max answered. “Eddy’s always been good for Mel. They’re great together.”

Sally sat down at the table, “That’s schway. Your sister rocks so the guy she marries better do the same.”

“Damn right.”

“So, when’s the wedding?”

“July or August.”

Sally jerked her head back. “That’s soon. Why come?”

Max shrugged, “They don’t wanna wait.”

Sally smiled. “Shotgun?”

“No!” Max paused. “I don’t… think so.”

Sally giggled.

Max growled. “Shut up, Sal!”

“What? Your sister’s hot! Hell, I wouldn’t blame Eddy. That’s one thing I hate about you Gibson girls. Like both of you got those curves. I mean…” Sally looked at her own body, “I’m hot and all but…” She looked at all the curves Max was blessed with and shook her head, “My God, Max! Who looks like that?! Dammit, you just woke up!”

Max giggled but struck a sexy pose. “Jealous?”

“Hell, yes.” Sally pouted but then put on a sarcastic smirk. “I’ll bet Terry likes it.”

“He’s a boy. Of course, he likes looking.”

“Oh, _that_ you can admit!”

Max rolled her eyes. “Well, gotta keep up the sexiness. Wanna go with me to the gym later?”

“Not now,” Sally replied. “Got some running around to do, but I do want to know about getting dinner.”

“What about after the gym?”

“Sure. Lunch?”

“Of course.”

Sally got an idea. “Hey, how about inviting Terry and Basem?”

“Sure,” Max agreed. “Why not?”

“Cool. When and where?”

“Franco’s Pizza. Maybe around 12:30, 1.”

“Really, Max? Pizza? After a workout?”

“High metabolism.”

Sally narrowed her eyes. “I hate you even more.”

“And I love you so much,” Max smiled.

* * *

After an hour of serious cardio, Max stopped working out, sitting on the bench of the coed gym. She started to get up when she saw Terry approaching. “Terry!” she said, surprised. Suddenly, she was concerned about she looked.

Coming out of the showers, Terry caught sight of her and was dumbstruck for a second. She was sweating but it had transitioned into glistening. It didn’t help that he had an ample view of her cleavage due to her sports bra.

“Wow,” he whispered.

She blushed a bit. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

He shook his head, “Uh-um-I-uh…” He got a hold of himself. “Just decided to work out here.”

“When you have a billionaire’s gym and money at your disposal?”

He still wasn’t completely focused as his eyes continued to glance down, “Uh… helps with the public image.”

“Guess so.” She saw he was still staring and knew that her blush was only going to deepen. She decided to switch this around on him and put on a classic smirk, “Likin’ the view, McGinnis?”

He smirked right back. “Well… it’s not the worse I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s _the_ best.”

“I’ll never tell.”

“You don’t need to. I know what I got.”

“As long as you know how to use it.”

“Shut up.” She exhaled. “Sally asked if you and B wanted to meet us for lunch.”

“Sure,” he replied. “Where?”

“Franco’s Pizza.”

“My favorite.”

“Gonna shower and change.”

“I’ll wake B up,” he declared.

“He’s lazier than you,” she pointed out.

He stared at her. “Me? Lazy? You wound me, Ms. Gibson.”

“Only when necessary.”

He smiled. “Why does that idea appeal to me?”

“Oh, my, Mr. McGinnis,” she replied with a coy smile.

“I’m starting to like that.”

Max smiled. “Maybe I’ll keep it around.” She headed for the showers, “See you in a bit.”

Terry turned but kept his eyes on Max, staring as she walked away. “Oh, hell…” He exhaled, “That’s something I shouldn’t be feeling.”

* * *

Max showered and changed into a t-shirt and jeans. She exited the gym and looked around to see if Terry was still about.

“Hey, Max!” Ket shouted.

Max rolled her eyes and silently groaned. The exact person she didn’t want to see. She turned and saw him approach, “Hey, Ket.”

He walked up to her and stopped. “How you been?”

“Good. Doing good. How about you?”

“Excellent, excellent. Been kinda missing you the last couple of days.”

“It’s been a little busy, yeah.” Max couldn’t stop herself from thinking, ‘ _And I’ve been avoiding you._ ’

“Alright,” Ket said, “so… I was wondering… when your schedule clears up…”

‘ _Oh, God, please, no!_ ’

“…if we could go out? Like on a date?”

“Uh… uh…” Max was caught and she knew it. She was trying to come up with any reason besides being bluntly honest. She tried to shy away from such things because it wasn’t that Ket was bad; she just wasn’t interested in him. She was praying for a way out of this and a quick way, at that.

“Hey, guys!” Terry spoke up.

Ket’s smile dropped while a small grin crawled across Max’s face. She was saved.

Terry walked up and looked at them before focusing on Ket, “What’s up, man?”

“Nothing much,” Ket answered, a little deflated.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, schway,” Ket forced a smile on his face, halfhearted though it was.

“Cool.” Terry looked at Max. “You want a ride?”

“Yes!” Max said, quickly. “Yes! A ride would be great!”

“Alright, alright!” Terry chuckled, “Calm down.”

“I’m just… really hungry!”

Terry caught Max’s tone and knew what just happened. He managed to not laugh. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Alright.” Max looked at Ket, “See ya, Ket.” She grabbed Terry’s arm, barely allowing him to get a wave goodbye to Ket.

Ket’s eyes hardened as he exhaled. “Yeah. See ya…” He turned and walked off.

Terry watched Ket go and wondered if he saw traces of disdain in Ket’s eyes before he walked off. Terry wasn’t sure if he liked what he just saw, but, suddenly, he started to get an uneasy feeling when it came to Ket.

“You’re my hero, forever,” Max whispered.

Terry smiled and looked back at Max, “It’s why I’m here.”

* * *

Later, Terry, Max, and Sally sat out on patio of Franco’s Pizza, waiting for Basem to arrive. Sally got a text from her brother, smiled and started to send one back.

“How’s everybody at home?” Max asked.

“Crazy per usual,” Sally finished the text and sent it off. “Bret’s complaining that Dad’s on him about not choosing a college yet.”

“Isn’t he a Junior?”

“Yep. But Dad always wants us to have these decisions made early.”

“He ever have that problem with you?” Terry asked.

“Only when I suddenly wanted to come back to Gotham,” Sally answered.

“That scared him?”

“Well, kinda, but, he’s good on the idea, now.”

“That’s cool,” Terry nodded. “Things would be boring without you around here.”

Sally sat up straighter, “Oh, I know! It’s the curse I bear when I’m _so_ amazing!”

“Shut the hell up,” Max groaned.

“See? I’m so amazing that I know that means you love me.”

Max and Terry just laughed.

They heard the rumble of an engine and saw an old school 2005 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide and its rider approach and park. Terry shook his head.

“What?” Max asked. “What’s up?”

Terry pointed at the rider as he started to remove his face mask, revealing Basem underneath. Being of French-Algerian descent, Basem’s features tended to stand out, though he wasn’t a big fan of unwanted attention; a trait he and his father shared. His eyes conveyed the strength that his parents had instilled him, in and out of costume. He kept his hair trimmed low and sported a closed shaved goatee. While his father, Bilal, was known for being a hero, his mother, Adeline, was quite a successful stockbroker, which put their family in a very wealthy position. Basem never wanted for anything and earned the reputation for leeching off his parents and being lazy; a clever ruse to explain any late mornings for when the world saw him, since he would be out dealing with the criminal element the night before. Basem’s cover as a dock worker for Wayne Enterprises was an agreed upon decision of Bruce, Superman, Basem, and Bilal; part of the cover story him being sent to learn from Bruce about humility, and being motivated to do something with his life by working from the ground up.

“Whoa!” Max and Sally said, admiring the bike and Basem.

“Really?” Terry asked Basem.

Basem approached them and took note of their gaze. “What?”

“You can’t have a normal bike like everybody else? Gotta have a freakin’ custom, old school cycle that’s barely street legal?!”

“If you’re asking why I have it, you just answered your own question.”

“Oh, shut up, Cool Hand Luke,” Terry demanded.

“I have no idea who that is,” Basem said.

“How the hell do _you_ know who that is?” Max asked Terry.

“Oh, I know stuff!” Terry defended.

“Not much.”

“Shut up.”

“Pleasant as ever, aren’t we, Terry?” Basem sat down, setting his gloves in his back pocket. He turned his attention to Sally, “Ms. Croft, always pleasure.”

Sally smiled. “ _Bonjour, Monsieur_ Asselah. _Comment allez-vous?_ ”

Sitting down, he let out a pleased exhale, “Ohh! _Je vais bien. Merci. Comment allez-vous?_ ”

“ _Je vais bien_.”

“Will you two stop that?!” Terry shouted. “God, every time!”

“It’s French, you uncultured bastard,” Basem declared.

“Screw you.”

“Case in point. We ordered yet?”

“Waiting on you, good prince,” Terry smiled.

“Funny. Never heard that one before.” Basem snatched the menu from in front of Terry, who just threw his hand up in surrender. “I haven’t had a good stromboli in a while.”

“Best in Gotham.”

Basem closed the menu and handed it back, “I’m good.”

They ordered and talked until their food arrived. As they were getting toward the end of the meal, Sally smirked, covertly, and looked Basem, who was surprised by her smirk at first but saw a look in her eyes that told him something great was about to happen. He just needed to be ready to enjoy the fun.

“So, Terry, why are you always single?” Sally asked, bluntly.

Terry’s and Max’s eyes went wide at her question. Basem couldn’t stop laughing.

“Sally, what the hell?!” Max asked.

“What?” Sally asked, bordering on sweetly. “It was just a question.”

“I think it’s valid,” Basem said.

“Shut up!” Terry growled. He looked at Sally, “Where the hell did that even come from?”

Sally shrugged, “Like I said, just a question.”

“Oh, God…”

“I think you should answer,” Basem added.

“Shut your mouth, jackass!” Terry ordered.

“Don’t answer her, Terry,” Max defended. “She’s being irritating. Oh, and a bitch.”

Sally smiled. “I am what I am. That is all that I am.”

Terry sat back and stared at Sally for a moment. “Wait a sec. I wanna answer.”

Sally brightened, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

Max tried to keep her face neutral.

Basem folded his arms, “This should be interesting.”

Terry shook his head then looked at Sally. “I don’t date just anybody. I’m not lonely and I’m not desperate. I’m single because… I’m waiting for the right person. The one who’s worth it.”

“And she would have to be more awesome than Max?” Sally asked.

Terry looked at Max then back at Sally and shrugged, “I guess that’s the other problem: there _is_ no one more awesome than Max.”

Max stared at Terry but had to look away; she was afraid she was starting to blush.

Sally smirked. “Alright.”

Terry stared at Sally. “What? That’s it?”

“I just wanted to hear your answer. Make sure that you weren’t a dreg.”

“You suck,” Max said to Sally.

“Do not,” Sally defended. “I’m just checking. Making sure that it wasn’t a front or anything.”

“You’ve known me for two years!” Terry reminded.

“The best snakes know how to hide their skin.”

Max groaned.

“I appreciate her honesty,” Basem admitted.

“You would,” Terry replied.

“It’s not like it’s bad reasoning, though,” Sally declared. “I mean, after all, you’re right: people don’t come much more awesome than Max.”

As much as Terry wanted to hold his scowl at Basem, he couldn’t help but grin at Sally’s words. “Damn right.”

Max looked at Terry and smiled. He looked at her and smiled, as well. Basem looked over Sally and gave her a nod and wink of respect for that brilliantly executed maneuver. Sally gave a nod and smile back.

* * *

After lunch, Max and Sally had just walked into their apartment when Max swatted Sally’s arm with an impressive amount of force.

“OW!” Sally grabbed her arm. “What was that for?!”

Max tackled Sally to the couch, got on top of her, and started hitting Sally with a pillow.

Sally could only get out grunts and cries of irritation before shouting, “Max, what the hell!? What’s up?!”

“I’m gonna kill you!” Max shouted.

“The hell did I do?!”

Max stopped hitting Sally, taking heavy breaths and holding the pillow overhead, “You calling Terry out!”

Sally smiled. “Oh, that.”

Max hit Sally in the face once more then threw the pillow aside.

“Dammit! Are you finished?!”

“For now!” Max growled.

“Good! Get off!”

Max got from on top of Sally but folded her arms and started to pace in front of the couch, “What’d you do that for?!”

Sally grinned again. She placed her hands behind her head and crossed her ankles. “Did you like that?”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Right now, I do.”

“Oh, it’ll pass.”

Max growled, conceiving another attack.

Sally stared at Max. “Tell me that hearing that didn’t make you feel even the tiniest bit special?”

Max glared at Sally, trying not to smile. “I’m not answering that.”

“You don’t need to.” Sally got up and headed for her room before Max could retort.

Max just stood with argument after argument in her head, but the problem was, at the end of all of her heated opinions, was the fact that Sally was right: Terry’s explanation made her feel very special.

* * *

Later on that evening, Basem and Terry were in the car, on their way to Wayne Manor, when Terry saw Basem staring at him.

“What?” Terry asked, irritated.

Basem smiled, “That wasn’t a bad answer, after all.”

“Thanks.”

Basem looked off, “You couldn’t be worse at hiding your feelings, though.”

“Shut the hell up, B!” Terry shouted.


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6 **

A few days had passed since the dinner with Mel and Eddy, and Max was in Mel’s apartment as they worked on looking at wedding magazines to plan for the big day, smiling all the while. They had made a lot of headway of deciding what Mel was going to wear and certain decorations for the reception and were now going through little tidbits of what might be nice.

After three hours of planning, Max stared at Mel, “You know? I honestly thought I would hate this: going through magazines, discussing colors and frills, and, overall, being the absolute sickeningly girliest I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

“And?” Mel asked, intrigued.

“I would still hate it, but it’s for you so…” Max shrugged, “it’s not so bad.”

“Good.” Mel scanned through another magazine then looked at Max. She had been going back and forth about whether or not to bring up, what she decided to call, the McGinnis issue. She knew she needed to and decided to go for it. “Hey, Max.”

“Yeah?” Max’s face was still in a magazine.

“I wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“What’s that?”

Mel took a deep breath. “It’s about Terry.”

Max looked up in a shot and had to swallow the lump in her throat. “Wh-what…” She cleared her throat. “What about him?”

Mel stared at her. No words needed to be spoken.

Max got the message. “No.”

“Alright, before you fly off the handle, just listen, Max…”

“No, Mel! No. Okay? I’m not dating Terry.”

“Why not?”

“Because…”

“And before you answer,” Mel interrupted, “I want you to know that I’m only bringing this up because _no one_ , on this whole damn planet, makes you smile like him. No one, Max. With all of the crap we’ve been through, it always killed me that I couldn’t be there for you more. Gettin’ caught up in my own crap too much. Then, lo and behold, your junior year, I call you and you’re smiling and happy, talking about your new bestie, Terry, and you’ve been smiling ever since.”

Max wanted to deny that, but she couldn’t.

Mel looked down then back at her sister, “I went back and forth about whether or not talk with you about this, but I knew that I should. I’d be a horrible big sister if I didn’t.”

“One thing you’re not is a horrible big sister.”

“You’re a sweetie for saying that, but that’s a discussion for another time.”

“If you say so.”

Mel took a deep breath and dove further into these uncharted waters. “Max, Terry is more than just a friend to you, more than a best friend, and don’t you dare lie to me about that either.”

Max looked away.

“All these years, all this time, no one has been in your life more than him. Hell, _I_ haven’t been in your life as much as Terry has in the past couple of years.”

Max winced at that. “Mel…”

“I didn’t say that for sympathy for me, Max. I said it to make a point.” Mel smiled, “It’s why you’re my maid of honor now. It’s me going for big sister of the year.”

Max smiled a bit.

“But, back to my point. Terry has been the go-to guy for you in the past few years. When no one else has been there, he has been.” Mel looked Max over. “So, it just begs the question: why don’t you even wanna see if a relationship with him would work?”

Max tried to figure out every which way out of this. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, though. For Mel to even bring this up, she thought about it a lot and wanted to talk about it.

“There’s too many factors, alright?” Max finally responded.

“Life isn’t always a math problem, Miss Smarty-pants!” Mel argued.

Max groaned, “It’s not that! It’s…” She huffed. “It’s…”

“What? What is it? What is it about Terry that you are so convinced that it’s not worth even trying?”

“I have no idea how he feels!”

“Don’t even!” Mel fired back. “Alright? Don’t even try that!”

“What makes you so sure he even wants anything to do with me?” Max argued.

“Max. He came to dinner. With you. Your sister. Your sister’s fiancé. That and there was no promise of sex afterward! No guy does that!”

“You invited him.”

“What? He can’t say no?”

“No because he’s nice!”

“He’s nice, yeah,” Mel agreed. “He’s one of the nicest guys to ever come out of Gotham. And, true, we do get along but, stop kidding yourself. He did it for you! What the hell do you call that?”

“Him being a good friend,” Max replied.

Mell stopped for a moment then nodded, “Yes. Yes, that is.”

“Alright, then so…”

“But playing around? Being so comfortable like you two are already dating? The fact that anytime I get to see you, I have to, damn near, pull you away from him! That proves he feels some kind of way!”

Max felt a part of herself wanted to believe that. However, she knew that was wrong. “No. No, it doesn’t.”

“Max…”

“And, even if he did, even if some part of him actually liked me like that…” Max shook her head, “it wouldn’t work, okay? It just wouldn’t work.”

Mel jerked her head back. “What? Why?”

“Because…” Max hated admitting this, but she knew that Mel wouldn’t let this go. And maybe she needed to face this. Max trusted Mel just as much as she trusted Terry and Sally. She was safe with Mel. Though this hurt, she wanted to get this off her chest. Max shook her head, “Because I don’t know how to be a girlfriend. I don’t know how to keep a guy happy.”

Though that choice of words would’ve confused anyone else, Mel understood. That explanation, or attempt at one, told Mel everything she needed to know. After all, it was something she said to herself so many times in the past. “You’re not scared of being with Terry.”

Max looked at Mel.

Mel folded her arms. “You’re scared you and him will turn into Mom and Dad.”

Max’s gaze became indignant, “I’m not _scared_ of anything.”

“The hell you’re not.”

“So what? You’re not scared that could happen to you and Eddy?”

Mel gave Max an incredulous look. “Are you serious, right now? Max, hell, yes, I’m scared! Read my lips: I. Am. Terr-i-fied!”

Max was taken aback. She’d never heard that come out of Mel before.

Mel settled down then leaned forward, rubbing her hands over her face, then she exhaled. “And not because Eddy isn’t a good man. He’s the best. I can’t even tell you how lucky I am he stuck around with me this long. But, yeah, I’m scared.” She shook her head, staring out of the window, then back at Max. “I am scared to _death_ I’ll be like Mom or, even worse, Dad.”

Max found the idea of Mel turning into their father absolutely ridiculous. “You’d never do that.”

“Do you think Mom _planned_ to be this way with us? Hardly ever there? Do you think she planned things to go the way they did with Dad? Do you think that she ever even believed that them getting divorced meant he would, practically, write us out of his life?”

Max knew those were all good questions. “So… why get married?”

Mel exhaled. “Because Eddy knows how scared I am. And he understands why I would be scared. And he loves me anyway. Because he knows my family history with marriages and he still got down on one knee and asked me. Because I love him so damn much. I can’t even imagine my life without him in it. I can face being scared; I’ve learned to deal with that. I don’t want to face life without him, without loving him. Because the right person is worth the risk.”

That last statement pierced Max’s heart more than any other.

“Isn’t… Terry worth the risk?”

Max let out a shaky exhale. She bowed her head. “He is.” She looked up at her sister, “That’s just it. He really is.” She closed her eyes and shook her head, “I’m not.”

Mel sighed, “Max…”

“I’m not, okay? He’s… he’s so important. You have no idea how many people depend on him! If I… screw up his life, that’s a lot of lives I’ll ruin with his being the most important one!” Max shook her head. “I can’t do this.”

“Max…”

“I can’t, okay, Mel?” Max stood up and exhaled. “I can’t do that. I can’t risk messing up his life for me.” She started for the door, “I gotta go.”

Mel got to her feet, “Max. Max, hold up for a second.”

Max stopped at the door.

Mel walked up to Max and hugged Max from behind, resting her cheek against the side of Max’s head. Max breathed a sigh of relief; she loved this sisterly affection. Sometimes, it was all she wanted in the world.

“All I want is for you to be happy, baby sister,” Mel whispered. “That’s all. I know you’re scared because Terry is a great guy and the last thing you want is to ruin something so good you have going for you. But that’s what I want for you: to have a great guy who will always go the distance for you. He’s always done that.”

“Yeah…” Max whispered.

“Do whatever feels right, Max. All I want is for you to be happy. That’s it. I know that you make the right decisions. You always have. And I know you. You always will.”

Max put her hands on Mel’s arms. “I’m sorry for…”

“Don’t apologize,” Mel interrupted. “You’re a Gibson girl. We tend to do that.”

Max laughed, lightly. “You’re a pretty awesome big sister. Thanks, Mel.”

Mel kissed Max on the cheek. “And I’m damn lucky to have you for a little sister.”

Max rolled her eyes. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do. And there hasn’t been a single day where I’ve forgotten that.” Mel rested her chin on Max’s shoulder. “And I never will.”

Max sighed. “I love you, sis.”

“I love you, too, kiddo.”

* * *

Having just returned from a recent trip to Metropolis, Bruce came back to the Cave and walked down to the computer and activated it.

Full garbed in his Nightrunner gear sans his mask, Basem walked into the cave and found Bruce there. “Whoa!” Basem exclaimed.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Bruce asked.

“Kind of. You’ve been gone so much seeing you, period, these days, is a shock.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Your choice,” Basem shrugged. “How was your trip?”

“Fine,” Bruce replied. “Give me a report.”

“Well, still trying to track the Falcones. We may know of one guy who can lead them to us but we can’t find him.”

“Name?”

“Reggie Vickers. We learned he’s a bit of an addict. He has a drug dealer, goes by the name Rush. We might be able to find Vickers if we can track Rush down.”

“Hit the streets,” Bruce advised, “I’ll look for him.”

“Alright.” As Bruce got to work to finding of the Falcone’s contact or the dealer, Basem looked at a text from Terry saying he would meet him in the field. Basem looked over at Bruce and decided to ask a question that had been burning in his mind. “Bruce?”

“What is it?”

“How much do you know about Max?”

“She’s smart, agile, a little cocky and stubborn, but she has a good heart. She helps keep Terry grounded and, despite all her bad points, is a very good person. Why do you ask?”

Basem stared at Bruce, silently.

Bruce shifted his attention to Basem. “What?”

“Nothing,” Basem answered. “Just… I’m surprised you knew who I was talking about and that you went into that much detail.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and went back to work. “Do you know another Max?”

“Point. Anyway, I’m asking because I’m curious about the two of them.”

“The two of who?”

“Terry and Max.” Basem thought about it for a second. “Or ‘Tax’, as Sally likes to call them.”

Bruce already knew what the questioning was leading to. He scowled and kept working. “It’s a bad idea.”

“What?”

“The two of them dating. It’s a bad idea.”

Basem blinked and exhaled, “Well, with your world of ambiguity, at least, you’re clear about that. But why?”

“They care about each other too much as it is,” Bruce answered.

“You just lost me.”

“You can’t have too many distractions in this game.”

“The hell do you mean, ‘distractions’?”

“I mean, Max.”

“Max is no distraction. If anything, she helps.”

“It’s not needed,” Bruce declared.

“You have to be joking,” Basem argued. “Without her, who knows where myself and Terry would be. Hell, if anything, we need _more_ of her help.”

Bruce turned around, quickly, “She’s not wearing a suit!”

“When was that even brought up? And I never said she should, but she’s a big help.”

“Possibly, but she shouldn’t even doing that much.”

Basem stared at Bruce for a few seconds. “For you to believe that, you don’t seem to be doing too much to stop her. Or, rather, nothing at all.”

“Enough,” Bruce ordered.

“And for you to believe any of this, you never made a fuss when Terry had a girlfriend before.”

“You know nothing about that.”

“Terry told me.”

Bruce turned back to the computer, “This conversation is over.”

“Like hell, Wayne,” Basem growled.

Bruce shot his eyes back at Basem, “Do want me to ship you back to the League?”

“Some days, yes, but Terry’s too good a friend to leave on his own.” Basem walked up to Bruce, “And don’t fool yourself, old man: I can leave whenever I’m good and damn ready.” He shook his head, calming himself down. “I can’t believe this. This is ridiculous for us to have an argument over something this nonsensical. I was just trying to get your opinion of this. Why are you acting like this?”

Bruce gazed at Basem. Basem looked so much like his father, it sometimes caught Bruce off-guard. Bruce decided to give Basem a straightforward answer.

“You don’t understand,” Bruce informed. “None of you do. This is _not_ a life where you can have a life later or during. You walk it alone. In the end, you’re always alone.”

“Tell that to my parents,” Basem pointed out.

“Your dad is the exception to the rule. But, in the end, when all’s said and done, we end up alone.”

Basem stared at Bruce, mouth agape. “My father talks about you like you’re a Godsend. You can’t be the same man he’s been going on and on about to me, all these years, if this is how you feel. I mean… how can you truly believe that?”

“Because no one cares about how much work you put in,” Bruce answered, coldly. “No one cares what you lose when the sun comes up to keep people safe in the night. They just care if you miss a party. They care if you’re not at a social gathering, if you don’t wish them a merry Christmas or invite them over for a Thanksgiving dinner you’re not having. Terry only _thinks_ Max will understand, and, maybe, she even thinks she does. But she doesn’t. She never will and he needs to realize that. It’s all a thrill for her right now. When she wants him to be at some party he can’t make because Mad Stan is blowing up a freeway, she’ll care more about her party than the lives he saves.”

Basem could feel his disappointment and anger building inside of him. He looked off, staring at the darkness of the cave. It took him a minute to get control of himself and not fly off the handle. When he finally could speak, calmly, he exhaled. “You know something, Bruce…” He looked back at Bruce, leaning closer, “you’re not always right.”

Bruce couldn’t help but remember the time Superman once told him the same thing. “Perhaps not. But I am this time.”

Basem walked away. He knew this was a waste of time, and he had work to do. He grabbed his mask, walked over to his airbike, and stopped before jumping on to it. He looked over his shoulder at his superior. “Not everyone has to be a damn martyr like you, Wayne.” Basem slid his mask on, hopped on his airbike, and peeled out of the cave.

Bruce went back to the computer and sat back. “It’s not martyrdom. It’s fact.”


	7. Chapter 7

** Chapter 7 **

Batman patrolled the skies and found Nightrunner fighting off a gang of masked thieves trying to break into a department store. Batman couldn’t help but notice Runner seemed far more aggressive than usual. Batman descended from the Batmobile and tackled one of the thugs. He knocked him out and looked to see Runner throw the last thug against a wall.

“Wow,” Batman said. “You’re mad.”

“How’d you guess?” Runner started gathering up the thugs.

Batman grabbed a couple of them, dragging them over. “Wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

They finished tying the thugs up, then notified the GCPD. They flew away from the scene and went to another rooftop, observing as the police arrived to take the criminals into custody.

“Is it a problem back home?” Batman asked.

“No,” Runner answered, angrily.

Batman sighed. “Old man?”

Runner looked at Batman and conceded, “Old man.”

“I knew he was back and that didn’t take long.” Batman rubbed his forehead. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Don’t bother. He’s set in his old school, dumbass ways.”

“You know he can hear you.”

“Oh, can he?” Runner lifted his head up, “Then, now hear this: _screw you!_ ”

Batman threw his head back, “Can you not…?!”

“What? Be truthful?”

“Look…” Batman exhaled. “I just don’t want you going back to the League over nothing.”

Runner looked at Batman and let out a hard gust of breath. “I’m not going anywhere and, despite what he might think, he can’t make me leave. We’re friends, brothers. I can deal with him for that. I’m just… pissed right now.”

Batman understood that. “Need some alone time?”

“Yeah.”

Batman nodded, “Okay. I’ll, uh… patrol the upper east side. You take the south. After that, go home and rest. I’ll talk with the boss.”

“Won’t do any good.”

Batman shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Won’t know until I try.”

Runner nodded and signaled for his airbike. It appeared overhead seconds later. “You’ve got a big heart, brother. I hope you never lose that.” He hopped on his bike and took off.

Batman rubbed the back of his head, “Great. _This_ is what we need! Yep! Should’ve known! Things were goin’ _too_ good lately!” He groaned. “I can’t _wait_ to deal with this.”

He knew that Bruce was probably still listening and heard every last bit of sarcasm that was dripping off of his words.

* * *

A few hours later, Batman headed back for the Bat Cave. He thought about going home but he knew he and Bruce needed to talk, so everything could get straightened out with Basem. After parking the Batmobile in the Cave, Terry jumped out and headed over to Bruce, who was sitting at the computer.

Terry took his mask off and leaned against the console to face his mentor, folding his arms. “So, I know you heard.”

“Yes,” Bruce replied.

“Then I don’t have to beat around the bush. What’s going on with you and B?”

“Nothing,” Bruce answered, coldly.

“Okay, good, it’s on both sides,” Terry groaned. “What’s with you two? _This_ time?”

Bruce opened his mouth to answer.

“Please, don’t say ‘nothing’ again. I _am_ going to get the truth out of one of you, and I won’t stop until I do. So, you can either tell me what’s up now, or I can pester both of you until you tell me.”

Bruce sat, quietly, for a second. Terry did have a propensity for holding on to a subject that interested him until he was satisfied. Bruce wanted to get this over with, anyway.

“We disagreed,” Bruce informed.

Terry rolled his eyes as filled his voice with sarcasm, “Ooh. Shocking.”

“You asked.”

“You two’ve disagreed since he got here. What’s wrong now?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Am I asking?”

Bruce sat back and decided to address the issue; to get it out of the way, if nothing else. “It’s about you and Max.”

Terry was taken aback. “Okaaaaaaaaaay. What about me and Max?”

“He’s under the impression you two are a couple.”

“We’re not.”

“And you shouldn’t be.”

That caught Terry’s attention. “Um. Why?”

“Because it would never work,” Bruce answered.

Terry’s face went blank as he stared at Bruce for a few seconds. “I’m sorry, I think I heard you wrong. Did you just say ‘it would never work’?” He was starting to understand Basem’s cross behavior.

“Yes.”

Terry’s trigger was pulled. “Yeah, uh-huh. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

Already seeing that anger coming, Bruce had no intention of arguing with Terry about this and quickly waved it off, “If I have to explain, then, there’s no point.”

Terry, however, was not willing to let this pass so easily. He walked right up to his mentor, standing over him as he sat. “ _Make_ it a point.”

Bruce just stared up at Terry. If Terry wanted to know, Bruce wouldn’t hold back. He never had before, and he wouldn’t start now.

“She’ll be a distraction,” Bruce declared.

Terry took a step back, wide-eyed, “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Bruce, what the hell are you even talking about? Are you gonna just discredit all the time she’s helped me? She’s helped you?”

“That’s not the point.”

“No, that’s _exactly_ the point!” Terry fired back. “You’re writing her off and forgetting all she’s done for us like it didn’t matter!”

Bruce rose to his feet, “It’s not writing her off! It’s pointing out a fact! She does distract you! It’s happened before!”

Terry let out a sarcastic chuckle, “Yeah, you’re right! You know what?! You’re absolutely right! I have gone to save her before, which was why a bomb almost blew up Gotham and Kobra almost took it over. Yeah, you’re right, Bruce! Just like always!”

Bruce knew better. Terry was setting him up.

Terry knew that Bruce knew. He just didn’t care. “Because you’ve never been distracted! Not even by Talia or Veronica or Kathy Duquesne or Barbara or Selina!” He paused for a moment and said, in a softer yet just as harsh tone, “Or Diana.”

Bruce’s eyes went wide before his face hardened again. “That’s enough!”

“Hardly!” Terry’s voice regained its edge. “You can walk over me all you want, have a party! You don’t get to dumb down our friends and the reason _both_ of us are still alive! Max has done a hell of a lot for us! Yeah, I’ve chosen her in some cases, but I’m not the only Batman in this cave who chose to save someone he cares about in crunch time situations, Bruce!”

Bruce did not like this current course of this conversation. “You’re defending her rather strongly for you to have no interest in being with her!”

“I never said I had no interest in that and that’s not the _point!_ You can be against me dating all you want, but I’ll be _damned_ if I’m gonna just stand here and let you mark Max down to nothing but a distraction!”

“That’s what she’ll become if you even try to date her!”

Terry wanted to pull his hair out, “I’m not _trying_ to date her!”

“Then what are we even arguing about?!” Bruce shouted.

“ _You!_ Calling Max a distraction when she’s been so much more than that! To both of us, not just me! She’s been there for you, too, and you know it! That’s why I’m not gonna stand here and let you ridicule her like this!”

“I’m not ridiculing her!”

“That’s _exactly_ what you’re doing!” Terry insisted.

“I’m pointing the dangers you can have while being a relationship in this life!” Bruce fired back. “It’s dangerous!”

“You think I don’t know that?! You think I don’t think about that every damn _day_ , every damn _minute?!_ I do! I always think about it! She could get killed just for being my best friend! Hell, she could get killed walking down the damn _street!_ You know that just as well as I do!”

Bruce had no reply for that.

“And, you know what?! You’re fighting this awfully hard but, when I was with Dana, you didn’t say slag!”

“That was different! Dana didn’t know! Max does! That could be dangerous!”

“GOTHAM is dangerous!” Terry screamed. “What did I just get through talking about?! That’s why I’m even here! It’s just as much to protect Max as the rest of the city! But, no matter if I’m dating her or if she just stays my best friend, don’t you _ever_ forget that she’s always going to mean the world to me because she’s always been there for me!”

“And if you do try to put yourself in a relationship situation with her, you’ll regret it!” Bruce yelled. “ _Both_ of you! She’ll never understand this life to the point where it matters! It’ll end up just like you and Dana! Max _thinks_ she’ll understand but all she’ll care about is the dates you miss, the dinners! That’s all!”

“Are you even listening to yourself talk or do you just go on auto-pilot?! _Max_ wouldn’t understand?! Are you _kidding_ me?! How many times, _how many times_ did she give me an alibi to take down half of the supervillains in Gotham when I couldn’t use you an excuse?!”

Again, much to his surprise, Bruce had no retort.

“You wanna point out all of the reasons me and her won’t work because you think I’m the same punk kid that stumbled down those steps four years ago!” Terry contended. “That I’m the same idiot I’ve always been, that I don’t think these kinds of things through! I’m not, Bruce!” He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to calm down but it wasn’t working. He dropped his hand, “I know I’ve made the choice to save her and not go after the bad guy! I can’t swear that I won’t ever do it again! But… God forbid… if push comes to shove, I’m not gonna… save her and not a school bus full of children or something! I know that if I have to make a choice, I’ll do what I have to! And you know what?! She’d understand that, too!”

Bruce’s anger with this was starting to reach the boiling point, “If she’s so worth it, then why don’t you just go out with her, then?!”

“Because I don’t know how she feels! Because I don’t know if she even remotely feels like this! I _don’t_ want her to resent me!”

“You make her sound like she’ll understand everything, anyway!”

“Maybe she will!” Terry shouted. “I don’t know! But I sure, as hell, don’t wanna risk it and have her end up hating me, so I end as alone as _you!_ ”

Bruce paused. To his even greater surprise, that actually stung.

Terry realized what he said and he knew he was wrong. He closed his eyes in shame. He crossed the line. Both Batmen let the silence of the cave cool tongues and their minds. Terry opened his eyes back up and struggled to find the words to say to make amends for that.

Terry swallowed the lump in his throat. “Bruce, I…”

“It’s okay,” Bruce reassured.

“No, it’s not. That… that was low. That was…” Terry rubbed his eyes and shook his head. He sighed, “…that was way too low.”

Bruce exhaled. “No. It wasn’t. I actually deserved that. I’m sorry, Terry.”

Terry sighed and leaned against the computer. “You didn’t deserve that. I’m sorry. Bruce, I am so sorry. I-I didn’t mean that, seriously. I’m so sorry. I just…”

“Emotions ran high. I understand. It happens.” Bruce sighed. “I’ve said things I probably shouldn’t have. Probably most of my life. Unlike you, I don’t think I apologized. Even if I did, not as often as I should have.”

Terry gave a small smile, “I guess you’re human, after all.”

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“Bat’s honor.”

Bruce exhaled and sat back down in the computer chair. “I’m sorry I let this get this far. I’m so used to you just following my orders that… I guess I did forget you’re your own man, now. I keep forgetting some days… that you’re not me. We aren’t exactly the same. On some… make that _many_ levels, yes, we are very much alike.”

“Damn near identical,” Terry pointed out.

“That’s neither here nor there. My point is that you’re not me. Unlike me, beyond this cave, you have a real life. It’s not a mask you wear while you do this. You’ve managed to do what I couldn’t.”

“What’s that?”

“Make your personal one and your masked one separate but one is not a cover for the other. They’re both you.”

“You don’t consider ‘Bruce Wayne’ part of your actual life,” Terry surmised.

Bruce shrugged, “Once, I did. But, after a while, no. After all, I’ve told you what I call myself in my mind.”

“Good point.”

“But you clearly feel very strongly for Max. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be arguing like this.”

Terry sighed, deciding to confess. “I really do. Been trying to deny it or get over it but… I can’t shake it, Bruce. I mean… I think about her all the time. And, honestly?”

Bruce nodded.

“I _want_ to be with her. I really do… and part of the reason is because she understands me,” Terry motioned toward the cave, “this, this life. She gets it and supports it. It just makes her easier to care for.”

Bruce understood that. More than he was going to admit out loud. “Whatever is going on with you and Max, you’ll figure it out because you’ve done it before.”

Terry sighed. “I just wish I knew how to figure this one out. Like, _now_. Figuring it out _now_ would be good.”

Bruce saw that this situation was bothering his protégé more than something like this usually would. “Terry, did it ever occur to you that she just might want what you want?”

“No.” Terry thought about it. “Yes.” He groaned, “I don’t know. It’s so freakin’ complicated!” He let another groan.

“I understand. Believe me.”

Terry scratched his head. “I thought I left this kinda stuff back in high school.”

“Here’s a secret: relationships don’t get easier the older you get.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“You never know, though,” Bruce said. “Emotions are complicated. Max may feel the same way you do and have her reasons for not saying anything. Maybe she’s afraid.”

“Max?”

“Not all of us can put on a mask to hide how we really feel. The best of us do it without one.”

Terry rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe she is.”

Bruce looked Terry over and had one last question to ask him, “Terry.”

Terry stared at Bruce.

“Do you love her?”

Terry stopped moving at hearing that question. He, slowly, sat down on the console, staring off into the emptiness of the cave; hearing the question felt different than conversations he had with Basem. It was probably due to the irony of Bruce asking him. Somehow, though, that seemed right. Besides Max, Bruce knew Terry better than anyone else. Terry had been avoiding the question for fear of the answer and what the answer would mean. He couldn’t avoid it, now. It was staring him right in the face. Here, in the cave where his life changed forever, things were changing again. Not only could he not avoid the question, he could no longer avoid the truth of the answer. He came to terms with it.

In a still voice, Terry declared, “Yes.”

Bruce took a deep breath. He expected it, but the answer still surprised him, for some reason. “It’s not for me to decide, Terry, or to even get involved. You need to figure out the best way to deal with this on your own. I can’t help you here.”

Terry nodded, “I know.”

Bruce smiled, “But… if it helps… I’m on your side with this one.”

Terry looked up surprised but smiled. “Thanks, Bruce.”

“If I can redeem myself, I’ll offer one last piece of advice.”

“I have a long way to go to make it up to you what I said. Go for it.”

Bruce stood, walked up to Terry, and placed a hand on Terry’s shoulder, “Trust your instincts. One thing that’s become phenomenal is your ability to discern situations. If you have a gut feeling about this, one way or the other, go for it. Even if it turns out you’re wrong.”

“Why then?”

“Because, either way, you’ll know the truth.”

Terry smiled, “Thanks, Bruce.”

* * *

A few more days passed after Terry and Max had their respective talks concerning the nature of their relationship. Separately, they both knew, sooner or later, this would come to a conclusion. Terry stood outside of the classroom, waiting for Max. She walked out, saw him, and smiled.

He knew he loved her: no other smile did what hers did to him. He smiled back. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she greeted.

“What’s been goin’ on?”

“Nothing. I talked with Mel the other day.”

“What about?”

“Well, the wedding stuff, for one,” she answered.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah…” She moved, awkwardly. “And other stuff.”

He scoffed. “Yeah. Been… talking with Bruce, too.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I got out alive.”

They both laughed.

“So…” she began, “what was the subject between you and the big guy?”

“Actually,” he looked at her, “you and me.”

“Oh. Um… okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

He smiled, “Not this time.”

She smiled, “That’s a first. So, what was up? What about you and me?”

“Just… where we are in life.”

That made her heartbeat skip. “Okay. And, where are we?”

He chuckled, nervously, “Funny. I’ve been thinking about that, myself. Trying to… find a definite answer for that.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Max, I just… I do want to talk.”

She would’ve asked about privacy with all the people around them, if she remembered if they were there. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, “Look, it’s like this…”

“Max! Terry!”

They came back to reality and saw Ket approach them. They let out an exhale of disappointment.

“Hey, man,” Terry greeted, forcing a sincere grin

“Hey,” Max said, managing to keep most of the disappointment out of her voice.

“So,” Ket began, “I wanted to invite you guys to a party I’m throwing tonight. Since it’s a three-day weekend, plenty of time to recover.”

Terry smiled. “Sounds like fun. Can anyone be invited?”

“The more, the merrier.” Ket looked at Max, “I’m really hoping you can be there, Max.”

Max looked at Terry, who nodded. She looked back at Ket. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

Ket nodded, “Alright. Awesome. See you guys, there.” He walked off.

Max looked back at Terry, her eyebrows raising slightly before settling back down.

Terry chuckled. “Well, looks like we finally have something to do on a Friday night.”

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “Nothing wrong with what we usually do. Not to me, anyway.”

He nodded, slowly. “Me, neither.” He shrugged, “Maybe we could talk later? Moment kinda passed.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like to.”

“Need a ride home?”

“Drove today.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, you think it would be okay if Sally came?” she asked.

“Don’t see why not,” he shrugged. “I’ll see if Basem can make it.”

“Won’t that be fun?”

“Tell me about it.”

“See you tonight?” she asked, hopefully.

“Oh, yeah,” he confirmed.

“And Terry? If you have to…”

“I’ll be there, Max.”

She smiled, warmly.

* * *

Terry walked back into his apartment and called Basem.

“ _What’s up, brother?_ ” Basem answered.

“Hey,” Terry greeted. “We got plans tonight.”

“ _When don’t we?_ ”

“Not that kind. You’re coming to a party at the University with me, Max, and Sally.”

Basem fell silent for a few seconds. “ _A party? Me? At a party? A college party?_ ”

“Just do it,” Terry ordered.

“ _And Max’ll be there?_ ”

“Yeah.”

“ _Have you talked to her yet?_ ”

Terry sighed. “No.”

Basem fell silent. “ _Terry…_ ”

“I know, B. I know. I tried but… well, the moment kinda got away from us.”

Basem was quiet for a minute longer. “ _I don’t mind going, Terry, but you need to do something about Max. You need tell her how you feel._ ”

Terry exhaled and stared out of the window. “Trying…”


	8. Chapter 8

** Chapter 8 **

Max was in her apartment, looking at different outfits to wear to the party. She knew she was probably just going to settle on something comfortable, but she wanted to have the appearance of her trying. She had just tossed a pair of jeans on her bed when Sally walked in.

“Hey,” Max greeted.

“Yo,” Sally sat on her bed.

“Need your opinion.”

“What’s up?”

“What outfit will work for this party?”

Sally looked at the clothes spread out, “Why does it matter? You don’t need to impress anyone.”

“Just asking,” Max shrugged.

“Well, in that case, any outfit that’ll make Terry drool all over you. So, basically, clothes.” Sally smirked. “Or not.”

Max rolled her eyes. She looked at her clothes and mumbled, “I don’t even know if he can go.”

“I thought he said he was?”

“Yeah, but he’s got work.”

“He can’t take a little time off to come see you?”

“He’s does that all the time. I’m not gonna ask him to do it more just for a party.”

Sally looked her over. “But you want him to be there.”

Max paused. “Yeah.”

“Then call him and make sure he’s coming!”

Max sighed, “I don’t wanna take over every waking hour he has!”

“It’s not taking over if he wants to go.”

Max paused. “Maybe.”

“Max, I’m not trying to make you do anything. I just…” Sally scoffed, “screw it, I like how you are when Terry’s around. You’re like… even more relaxed.”

Max shrugged, “I feel safe around him.”

“You should. He’s pretty great.”

Max smiled, “Yeah, he is.”

Sally saw that smile and her hope for this was reignited. “So… what happens if he shows up?”

Max picked a shirt, which was a little more interesting than what she normally wore. “We’ll see.”

* * *

Basem arrived at Terry’s apartment and knocked on the door. Seconds later, Terry opened the door and greeting him, “Hey.”

“Why the hell am I doing this?” Basem asked.

Terry stared at Basem, blankly. “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

Basem walked into the apartment, “Actually, I have a better question: why are _you_ doing this? Why aren’t you taking Max out on a nice dinner or something where no one else is around?”

“Oh, give it a rest, will ya?” Terry closed the door.

“No, I won’t.” Basem folded his arms. “And what’s up with the guy who invited you?”

“Ket?”

“Sally told me about him. He sounds like a jackass.”

Terry leaned his head to the side, “You talk to Sally?”

Basem shrugged one shoulder, “Ever so often.”

“Huh.” Terry found that surprising. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Not that important. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, she told me he’s interested in Max.”

“It’s not mutual, trust me.”

“That’s not my concern. Why is this guy inviting her to a party and you, too?”

“Maybe he thinks I’m not a threat,” Terry replied. “Plus, I was standing right there. He felt like he had to, otherwise I know she wouldn’t be going.”

“Either way, this whole thing stinks,” Basem surmised.

Terry was doing his best to not think badly of Ket. He knew his own feelings and overprotectiveness of Max would make things worse. Still, he couldn’t deny some reservations when it came to Ket, no matter how hard he tried. Terry exhaled, “So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying stop being the nice guy. You’re too damn understanding.”

“Is that habit you and Bruce have? Pointing out my shortcomings?”

Basem smirked, “It is the one thing we can agree on since you have so many.”

“Bite me,” Terry fired back.

Basem chuckled, softly, then turned serious, “Terry, listen. All I’m saying is tonight could be the chance for you to make things turn around with Max. Hell, anytime you’re with her could be.”

“And it could _not_ be. I don’t know that for sure, either way.”

“Alright, good point.”

“But…” Terry paused, “let’s just see what happens, eh?”

Basem exhaled. “Fair enough. I just think it’s good thing I’m going. I wanna get a closer look at this Ket.”

“You’re gonna go Nightrunner on me, aren’t you?”

“Only if need be.”

Terry shrugged, “That’s fair. Let’s go.”

* * *

Max and Sally pulled up at the frat house and Sally cut off her engine. They looked around at all of the crazy guys and girls that populated the front of the house. While Sally and Max weren’t dressed in the most conservative fashion, they were wearing choir robes compared to what some of the ladies were clad in.

“Ugh,” Sally groaned. “I hate these kinds of parties.”

“Not really my scene, either,” Max admitted.

“Then why are we here?”

“Promised we would.”

Sally stared at her, “Next time: check with me before you make these kinds of promises.”

Max smiled, “Got it.”

The girls went into the party and, almost immediately, Max questioned what made her agree to this. Max knew she never would’ve said yes if it wasn’t for Sally and Terry coming with her. The instant she thought of Terry, though, Max’s mind wandered to what he wanted to talk to her about. Just thinking about him made her smile a bit.

As she and Max stood against the wall, watching the revelry, Sally looked over and saw Ket approach. “Uh-oh.”

Max came out of her trance and looked.

“Dreg Alert.”

“Knock it off!” Max ordered.

“Hey, Max,” Ket said, once he was close. He smiled at her. “Glad you made it.”

“Hey,” Max smiled.

Ket looked Max up and down, smiling. “Wow.”

Max’s outfit was a bit of a change for her. Deciding to be a little daring this evening, she wore a white shirt that was slightly more low-cut than she usually wore, allowing her cleavage to be visible. She also wore a pair of jeans that completed the outlook of showing exactly how sexy was and then some. Knowing how she clearly looked, she didn’t even get mad at Ket’s attention. She couldn’t blame him. She motioned toward Sally. “You know Sally.”

“Mm-hmm,” Sally said, pointedly. She wasn’t wearing anything that wasn’t outside of her normal, black-colored punk rock attire, but she was still able to put her best foot forward, as well, with a lot of her clothing being very form fitting. Of course, standing next to Max, it was alright with Sally that she wasn’t the center of anyone’s attention.

“So, just the two of you?” Ket asked, with hope in his voice. “No… Terry?”

“Uh, no,” Max said, disappointed. “He might’ve got stuck at work.”

“Oh,” Ket said, keeping most of the satisfaction out of voice, “that’s too bad.”

But Sally heard it, regardless. “But he could still make it. Ya know? Work shifts change all the time. Who knows? He could just be running late.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Ket looked back at Max, “So… wanna dance?”

Max was caught. She usually had Terry to run interference in this matter, but she wasn’t even sure if Sally could get her out of this one. “Umm…” That was until Max saw Terry walk in with Basem. Max’s smile was so bright that Ket thought he had a hope of her saying yes.

Max looked right past Ket, “Maybe in a little bit.”

Sally and Ket both looked to see Terry and Basem walk toward them. Sally smiled, triumphantly, while Ket’s face became stoic.

“I’ll see you in a few, Ket,” Max walked off.

Sally strolled, jubilantly, after Max. As she passed Ket, Sally said, “Better luck next time, champ.”

Ket watched them go as he clenched his jaw. “Fine. We’re doing this the easy way.”

* * *

Max made a beeline for Terry, smiling all the way. His smile came to full bloom when he saw her.

“Hey,” Max greeted Terry with a hug.

He hugged her back, “Hey.”

Max smiled at Terry after they released the hug. She looked at Basem, “Hey, B.”

“Hey, Max,” Basem nodded. He looked at Sally as she approached, “Hey, Sal.”

“B-Man!” Sally slapped Basem’s arm. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Terry made me.”

“Oh, I did not, you slaggin’ liar!” Terry shouted.

Max laughed. “You guys are so brothers.”

“I already got one of those.” Terry looked back at Max and took in her ensemble. “Wow. Max, you look…”

Max blushed a little, “You… you like it?”

“I don’t say this often because I don’t want you to think I’m degrading you but here’s one.” Terry exhaled, “Damn, girl!”

Max laughed. “Thanks, Terry.” She looked him over: he was wearing a black, short-sleeved polo shirt and jeans. Nothing overt but he was wearing it well. “Right back at you.”

“Nothing special about this.”

“Not from where I’m standing.”

Terry couldn’t but smile at that.

Sally was loving what she was seeing but decided to help alleviate any tension. “Alright!” she exclaimed. “The pretty boys are here! We’re _all_ here! Now, it’s a good time! Let’s show these dregs how to really party!”

The group spent the next hour dancing and having fun. Knowing they had to patrol later that night, Terry and Basem didn’t have any drinks while Max and Sally knew that they would only have three shots between them at the most; of those sworn three, they had only had one of each. After a while, Sally caught sight of some other friends and went over to greet them. Basem saw he had an incoming call from a contact and stepped outside to take it.

A slow song came on over the speakers, and it wasn’t until then that Terry and Max realized they were completely without their friends. The first time they’d been alone since they got to the party.

They looked at each other, uncertain, but they were both smiling. He motioned toward the dance floor. She smiled and nodded.

He took her by the hand, they walked on to the dance floor, and they danced for the duration of the song but, for them, it felt like hours. Soon, it felt like no one else was around but them.

Sally came back to where she left everyone and looked around and didn’t see any of the group. She looked all around until she caught sight of Terry and Max on the dance floor. A huge grin spread across Sally’s face as she had to stop herself from bouncing with excitement.

Putting his phone in his pocket, Basem walked up and saw Sally’s exuberance. He looked at her, curiously. She motioned toward the dance floor. He moved next to her, caught view of the very welcome sight, and he smiled, as well.

As Terry and Max dance, they couldn’t help but think of where they had arrived. They had been best friends forever, it seemed. They had no idea how they got here, but they did. The conversations they had with everyone else about the other were, separately, playing in the back of their minds.

Max was always afraid of relationships, even more so with Terry, but that fear was suddenly so quiet. In his arms, now, felt like where she always should’ve been and she couldn’t figure out what took her so long to get there.

Terry couldn’t get over how right this felt. In his life, his fear of being Batman and trying to have a stable relationship was another roadblock he wasn’t sure he’d ever get over. This moment, however, made all of those fears seem foolish and baseless. He didn’t know if Max felt the same way, but this moment would be one he would never forget.

The song ended and a more party-type song came on. Max smiled and looked up at Terry, who was already smiling at her.

“Thanks for the dance,” she said.

“Anytime,” he answered. They walked back over the others.

“You know, you guys don’t have to keep us company,” Basem declared.

“For sure,” Sally agreed. “We’re all adults here. You guys can… do your own thing.”

“No, it’s cool,” Max said. “We’re all here to have a good time after a rough semester.”

“I’m not a student,” Basem pointed out.

“But hasn’t work been hard?” Max raised an eyebrow.

Basem chuckled.

Ket found his way back over the group, “Hey, Terry. Glad to see you made it.”

“Hey, Ket,” Terry greeted.

“Who’s your friend?”

Terry motioned toward his brother-in-arms, “This is Basem Asselah.”

“Oh.” Ket motioned toward himself, “Ket Gold.”

Basem nodded, “Mr. Gold.” Suddenly, Basem felt uneasy looking at Ket.

Ket looked at Max, “So, how about that dance?”

Max felt a little uneasy, “Uh…” She looked over at Terry.

Smiling, Terry gave a quick nod, “I’ll be right here. Don’t worry.”

Max looked back at Ket and shrugged. “Sure. One dance. Why not?”

Ket smiled, “Join me for a drink? Just one?”

“Sure.”

They walked away from the group with Terry doing all he can to hide his disappointment that Max was away from him.

Basem watched Ket and Max disappear into the crowd and narrowed his eyes. “So, that’s Ket?”

“Yeah,” Sally confirmed in a disgusted tone. “Pretty boy jackass.”

Basem stood silent for another moment. “I don’t like him.”

Startled, Terry shot his eyes over to Basem, “You _just_ met him!”

“And?”

“I knew you were smart, B,” Sally declared, equal disdain in her voice.

“Stop it, you two,” Terry chided.

“What? He’s a creep.”

“He’s not a creep. I mean, not really. He’s just… not in our crowd. We are different from, like, everybody else.”

“For good reason,” Sally declared. “We kick ass!”

Terry rolled his eyes.

“But, you’re wrong, Terry. Ket’s a creep. The way he’s always trying to hang around Max! And how he looks at her…” Sally shivered.

“He finds her sexy.”

“No crap, Terry. They’re _straight_ girls who know Max is sexy. Ket’s a creeper. You’re just a nice guy who wants to see the good in people.”

Terry shrugged, “Maybe.” He groaned, “Okay, yeah, I’ll admit he’s a little… _too_ interested in Max…” He thought about that, “a bit more than I like… but that doesn’t make him a creep.”

“You’re trying too hard to be nice,” Sally declared.

Terry shook his head.

Basem hadn’t taken his eyes off of Ket’s direction. Something felt wrong to him. “No. No, I don’t like him.”

Terry looked over at Basem and caught the look in his eyes. Basem was in early stages of Nightrunner mode.

“Look,” Terry said, “I’ll be honest, I don’t care for him all that much, either, but that doesn’t mean…”

“No, it usually wouldn’t,” Basem preempted, “but he’s a problem.”

“I think you have a bigger problem with him than I do.”

“That’s because you’re still trying to be polite. I don’t know him or go to school here. I don’t have to be. I can call a scumbag a scumbag.”

“Will you knock it off?”

Basem turned to Terry, “Take off your blinders for one second and see him with those natural, street instincts of yours. Stop trying to be understanding and start being…” He struggled for the right word that didn’t pertain to Terry’s heroic identity. “…insightful.”

Terry looked back toward the direction Ket and Max went. As much as he tried, he couldn’t deny it. Basem and Sally were right. Terry let out a resigned exhale. “Okay. I see your point.”

“Good. So, can we start to do that thing where we meddle in other people’s lives or are you going to keep trying to vouch for that guy?”

Terry shook his head, “No.” He exhaled. “Alright. Let’s… keep an eye out.”

Basem smiled, “Finally, you’re talking some sense.”

“Shut up and go.”

Nodding, Basem walked off, circling around the crowd to follow Max and Ket.

“Where’s he going?” Sally asked. She smiled. “Or… are you two up to something?”

“Up to something,” Terry answered, seriously. “Do me a favor, Sal.”

“Anything.”

“Hope we’re wrong.”

“Wrong about what?”

“About Ket.”


	9. Chapter 9

** Chapter 9 **

While Terry and Basem kept their eyes open for any trouble, Max and Ket went over to the man at the bar and Ket looked at Max, “What would you like?”

“Just a fireball,” Max answered.

“You sure?”

“Positive. I don’t really drink.”

“Alright,” Ket replied.

Ket requested the drinks and, as he was getting them, Max looked to see Basem discreetly moving through the crowd. She smiled and shook her head; she didn’t know if it was Basem’s idea or Terry’s to follow her. Max was grateful, either way.

“Here we go,” Ket announced.

Max turned back around and smiled. She took the glass and downed the shot. It tasted a little sour, but she imagined it was because she hadn’t had it in so long and she forgot the taste of it.

“Dance?” Ket asked.

Max cleared her throat, “Sure.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Something must’ve gone down wrong. No worries.” They made their way on to the dance floor.

* * *

Terry and Sally caught sight of them and Terry couldn’t stop himself from feeling jealous of Ket, if only a little. He knew how he felt for Max and, more than anything, he wanted to be dancing with her. At the same time, though, he couldn’t help but wonder about his concern for Max around Ket and hope it was misplaced.

Terry’s thoughts were interrupted when Sally huffed. “Look at that jackass!” she declared.

Terry looked at Sally, “What?”

“Ket. He’s all over her. Yeah, she’s hot, but, damn, can you let the poor girl breathe?” Sally groaned. “I can’t that watch dumbass press up against my friend. Since you’re here to watch her, I’ll be right back. Call me when she’s done with that idiot and _don’t_ take your eyes off of them.” She walked off.

“Don’t worry,” Terry looked at Max. “I won’t.”

Just then, Terry noticed Max’s steps seemed to be off by a beat or two and she seemed to be slightly off-balance. For a girl who always managed to have poise and never seemed to even ever trip, that left him curious and more than a bit concerned. It was his protective nature kicking into overdrive, but he didn’t care. Something was different. He could feel it in his heart.

Something was wrong.

* * *

Max kept moving to the music, but she could feel she was not keeping the time. She heard the music in her head but she wasn’t moving to it like she normally would. She started feeling a little lightheaded. She closed her eyes for a second to get her bearings back, but she realized it wasn’t coming back. It was getting worse. She stopped moving and pressed her hand to her face.

“Max?” Ket asked.

Max tried to focus on Ket but she was starting to see double. She managed to clear her vision for a second, but she could tell it wasn’t going to last long.

“You okay?”

“Uh… no.” Max shook her head.

Ket grinned, darkly. “Alright. Come on. Let’s go someplace and sit down.”

“No, no. I…” Max shook her head, “I wanna… find Terry. I… just need to find him.”

“Well…” Ket placed his hand on her backside.

Max’s eyes went wide.

“…Terry’s not here.”

Max had to swallow the lump in her throat. “Get… g-get your hands off me.”

Ket brushed up his hand against her left breast. “Why? What’s the problem?”

Finding whatever strength she still had, Max shoved Ket away but stumbled, “Keep your hands off of me, dreg!” Her vision was starting to blur.

“What’s wrong, Max?”

Max realized something.

Ket was smiling.

At least, she thought he was. Either way, she knew she wasn’t safe ,but she couldn’t locate Sally, Basem, or Terry. She was starting to panic.

“C’mon, Max.” Ket took a step toward her, “You look like you need to lie down.”

“Keep the hell away from me!” Max shoved Ket again then managed to slap him.

Terry saw the shove and the slap and started making his way through the crowd. In an extreme haste.

After the slap, Ket recoiled and Max disappeared into the crowd of dancers as quickly as she could. Max wasn’t sure if she was out of Ket’s field of vision, but she couldn’t look back to check. She was off-balance enough as it is. Ket tried following her, but Basem pretended to stumble in front of Ket and knock him over.

“Oh, damn!” Basem shouted, “I am so sorry!” He grabbed Ket’s shirt collar and kept him in the same place, preventing him from following Max. “Man, hold on! Let me make sure you’re okay!” He, silently, prayed that Max had gotten somewhere safe and Terry was somewhere close to her.

Terry saw Basem stalling Ket, and, as badly as he wanted to go deal with him, finding Max was, by far, the most important thing that needed to happen.

* * *

Max made it off the dance floor and continued to move away. She wished she could find her friends, but she feel her body starting to get sluggish. She stumbled around until came to a hallway near one of the bathrooms where she found a sofa. She tried sitting down but her depth perception was shot. She ended up missing the seat of the couch and barely managed to catch herself before she hit the floor. She pushed herself up against the couch as her panic level rose; she’d never felt like this before. She only had two drinks. Those would never cause her to feel like this. This wasn’t drunk. She had been drunk once before, hated it, and swore to never do it again. This was something far worse.

‘ _Oh, my God, oh, my God,_ ’ she thought in a panic. ‘ _What’s wrong? What’s wrong? I can’t think straight!_ ’ She tried to push herself upright but the best she could manage was leaning over to the side, not even with the couch support. ‘ _I can’t even stand up!_ ’ She started to hyperventilate. “Help me,” she said in a small voice. “Someone, please. Help me.” She started to feel a tear fall. “Terry. Terry, please, help me. Please. Terry…”

“Max?” Terry asked.

She recognized his voice. She would have recognized it anywhere. She turned to see Terry staring at her, his face gave way his fear.

Terry was relieved to find her but worried all over again when he saw the look in her eyes, instantly knowing something was amiss. All of his instincts proved to be right and he couldn’t have been angrier about it if he tried. He ran over, knelt down next to her, and placed one hand on her back and one on her arm. “Max! Max, what’s wrong?” He could feel her shaking. “Max, talk to me.”

“I dunno,” Max said, with a shuddered breath. She wrapped her arms around. “I-I was dancing… and Ket, I think he… something was in my drink, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t feel good. I don’t feel right at all.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, “It’s okay. I got you.”

She still felt sick but she felt safer than she did a second ago. She knew Terry would never let anything happened to her. She grabbed on to his shirt like he was going to leave her, “Take me home. Please. I wanna go home.”

“We’re outta here.”

Max expected Terry to tell her to stand up but he put one hand under the back of her knees, picked her up, and carried her out of the back door. The world around Max started to feel like it was spinning as she leaned her head against Terry’s chest.

“Terry…” Max whispered. “I don’t…”

“I’ve got you, Max,” Terry replied. “Nothing’s gonna happen to you. I swear. I’ll take care of you. You can trust me.”

She wanted to say ‘thank you’ but she started to fade and, slowly but surely, she passed out.

He looked down at her, beginning to panic. He relaxed when he realized she was only unconscious. He walked faster as he got closer to his car.

“Terry!” Basem called out.

Terry looked behind him, saw Basem hurrying towards him, but he didn’t break his stride. “Gotta go, B.”

Basem looked at Max and exhaled, “You found her. Good.” He saw Max was unconscious and his eyes widened. “Is she…”

Terry paused at the car, “Drugged.”

Basem considered Max a very good friend, one of the main reasons he wanted to keep an eye on Ket. “He did do it,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Ket.”

Terry’s blood ran cold then, in an instant, it boiled. “What? Did what?”

“It was Ket,” Basem informed. “Had to be. She was just fine until she got a drink from him. I couldn’t see him put anything in it but… it had to be him.”

Terry exhaled, harshly. Ket was going to have to be dealt with but later. He looked back at his car, “Can you get the door?”

Basem opened the backseat car door and helped Terry put Max in and secure her. Sally ran toward them.

“Terry?” Sally asked, running up to them. “What’s going on? B said we had to leave right…” She saw an unconscious Max and her eyes went wide. “Oh, my God! _Max!_ What happened?”

“She was drugged,” Terry answered. “We’re getting her out of here. Can you come back with us?”

“Of course!” She looked at Basem, “Can you drive Max’s car back? I don’t wanna leave it here.”

Basem nodded, “I’ll handle it.”

Sally handed him Max’s keys then pointed at the street, “We parked over there, somewhere.” She hurried to the passenger side of the back seat.

“I’ll find it. Don’t worry.”

Sally got in to Terry’s car to check on Max. Terry started to get in, as well, until he heard someone shouting at him.

“HEY!”

Terry froze up as his rage started to take over.

Basem saw Ket approach and moved himself in front Terry and the car.

“What the hell is going on?” Ket asked, with a number of partygoers in tow. Some looked less than friendly.

“Max is sick,” Terry standing tall, keeping his voice neutral. “We’re taking her home.”

“She seemed fine when she was dancing with me,” Ket replied.

“Then, clearly, you weren’t paying attention. And this isn’t up for a debate.”

“Really?” Ket spoke loud enough for the small crowd to hear him, “She was fine with me! But, suddenly, you get a little jealous that your oldest friend is dancing with a better looking guy and she passes out!”

Terry and Basem didn’t like where this was going.

Ket laughed, “Is that how you operate, McGinnis? You can’t get in Max’s pants on your own, so you knock her out.”

“I don’t know who in the hell you think you’re talking to,” Basem spoke up, menacingly, and taking a step, “but you need to turn around and go back to your party… friend.”

Ket spit. “She’s not going anywhere with you two, dregs.”

Sally got out of the car, “No, she’s not.” She walked around the car and stood next to Basem. “They’re not dregs and she’s going home because the _three_ of us are taking her there. You know, me? Her _roommate_? The only person here who’s known her longer than Terry. The chick who can see past your so-called good looks and to your slaggin’ lies, you son of a bitch!”

Ket clinched his jaw. Sally’s presence weakened his accusation, considerably. It was no secret that, while she may be a bit on the strange side, Sally was a smart person, well on her way to being a doctor, and was as loyal to Max as Terry was, if not more.

“And it’s funny how you have something to say when _you’re_ the last guy she was dancing with after you announced _you_ got _her_ a drink!”

Ket exhaled and began to move around, awkwardly. He took notice of the dubious looks he was getting from the crowd.

“Turn around and get lost, dreg,” Sally ordered, “while Max’s friends take care of her.”

Ket knew this battle had been lost. He spit on the ground. “Fine, whatever. Do what you want.”

Terry paused. He walked right up to Ket and, with no pause or warning whatsoever, punched Ket with a right hook across his face. The punch was so powerful Terry knocked one of Ket’s teeth loose and knocked him out.

“Oh, my God!” Sally shouted, impressed.

“Terry!” Basem shouted, with a touch of chastisement. In truth, however, he was a slight bit more impressed than Sally since Terry wasn’t even wearing the Batsuit.

Terry walked back toward them, “He said do what you want.”

Sally smiled and looked at the crowd, “Anybody got a problem with that?!”

The entirety of the crowd shook their heads.

“Good!”

Terry got in the car, “Get in, B. I know Max’s car. I’ll drive you to it.”

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Basem looked at the unconscious Ket and smiled. “Whatever you say, brother.” He and Sally got in and they drove off.

* * *

After getting Max back to her and Sally’s apartment and getting Max into bed, Sally checked on Max while Terry and Basem waited in the living room. Terry sat on the couch with his hands clasped over his mouth while Basem paced back and forth.

Basem saw Terry sitting, pensively. “Good punch.”

Terry gave no reaction.

Basem didn’t expect any but he had a few of his own. “Wasn’t enough, if you ask me. I’m gonna find Ket and I’m gonna wring his neck.” He groaned, “ _Petit bâtard!_ ”

Terry was just staring straight-ahead. He hadn’t said a word since leaving the party. He didn’t care about talking. Right now, he didn’t care about Ket, though he would later. In earnest. All he cared about was Max. Right now and until he knew she was alright, she was all that mattered.

A few minutes later, Sally walked into the room with a deep exhale.

Terry shot up to his feet. “How is she, Sal?”

“Well, she’ll be okay but she’s really out of it,” Sally answered. “Probably won’t remember the car ride. I doubt she’ll remember leaving. I don’t know what he gave her but it was bad.” She stared at Terry, a grateful look in her eyes. “We’re really lucky you heard her.”

“ _Saw_ her. I saw her shove Ket then take off. She was stumbling off the dance floor and I followed after her.”

“I wish everyone was as observant as you, Terry.”

Terry shrugged, “Something felt off. You guys were right.” He ran his hands through his hair, ashamed of himself. “I should’ve known better.”

“You were trying to be the good one,” Basem reassured. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“No. None of this should’ve happened. If I had… I had just kept my eyes open to begin with, none of this _would’ve_ happened.”

“Hey,” Basem lightly pushed Terry’s arm. “Enough of that crap. You see the good in people. Don’t ever lose that. You were trying to see some good in him. You were mistaken. That’s all. It happens.”

Terry nodded, agreeing and appreciatively. “Thanks, B.”

“He’s right, Terry,” Sally added. “You’re a good guy. Don’t change that because of one stupid bastard.”

“Right.”

“I’m just glad you were looking out for her.”

Terry smiled. “Couldn’t help it. I can’t when it comes to her. She says I’m overprotective.”

“Do me a favor: stay that way,” Sally demanded.

Terry became stone-faced and focused on the wall that was adjoined to Max’s room. “Did you see for sure Ket gave her that drink?” he asked Basem.

“Positive,” Basem answered. “He bought her the one before they started dancing. I saw her push the little rat away and she was off-balance, that’s when I tackled him.”

“Ooh,” Sally said. “Wish I could’ve seen that.”

“Wasn’t much. Made it look like I just fell. I’ve hit guys a lot harder than that. I was just distracting him.”

Terry looked at Sally, “And she didn’t have anything else?”

“Only the one other shot before you guys got there.”

Terry took a deep breath and exhaled, harshly. He nodded, “Alright.” Everything fit and it was only making him angrier. He felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and looked at it. “It’s Mr. Wayne, probably needing something.”

Basem took the phone out of his Terry’s hand and stared at him. “Stay here. I’ll handle it.”

“Sally’s here.”

“Max will want you here, too. I can call in to work and handle anything Mr. Wayne needs tonight. I’ll let him know what’s going on.”

Terry had no intention of arguing; this was where he wanted to be. He nodded, “Thanks, Basem.”

“No problem, brother.” Basem handed Terry back his phone. “I’ll call you later on.”

“Okay.”

Basem nodded. He looked at Sally, smiling, “Good night, Sal.”

“Later, B,” Sally smiled.

He chuckled and headed out the door.

Sally looked at Terry, “You gonna be okay?”

Terry thought about it. “Once she is, I will be.” He looked at Sally. “How about you?”

Sally shrugged, “Yeah. I just…” She started rubbing her arm and let out a shaky breath, “got scared. Ya know, seeing her like that.”

“You’re not alone.”

She fell silent and shook her head. She growled, “I was so stupid!”

“What?” he asked.

“I should’ve known better! You think _you_ should have?! I _really_ should have!” Sally started to pace in a circle as her panic was setting in. “I should’ve told her to tell that dreg to screw off or… told her to go out somewhere with you and screw that party, or-or, maybe, if I were the friend I _should’ve_ been, I wouldn’t have let her walk off with that _jackass_ in the first _damn_ place!”

Terry walked toward her, “Sal…”

“Basem went on about your instincts and I ignored mine! My women’s intuition was going off like a five-alarm fire! She was even dancing with that asshole and what did I do?! I walked away! You were watching her, but what’s wrong with me?! I should’ve been there, too! I’m her friend! I should’ve known better than…”

He got in her path, ending her pacing, and put his hands on her shoulders, “Sal.”

She stopped her rant, tears falling from her eyes.

“Listen to me. Okay? You are every bit of Max’s friend as I am. Remember when you were moving back? She was so happy, wow. Before then, I hadn’t seen her that happy in a while. She told me you’ve had her back since you were kids, even when you didn’t live near her. You’re her friend. You’re the reason me and Basem probably weren’t arrested tonight for getting Max out of there. You are her friend. You’re one of the best ones she has. I’ve always known that.” He smiled. “Now, I have a personal story to back it up.”

Sally smiled as relief washed over her. She swallowed down some of the tears that were trying to escape and nodded. “Thanks. You’re awesome, Terry.”

Terry scoffed and smiled. “Thanks.”

She wiped her eyes and let out a relaxed exhale. “Wait here. Let me get you a pillow and a blanket. Sure the couch is fine?”

“Isn’t the first time.”

“Nope. It’s not.” She disappeared into the other room.

Terry sat back down and bowed his head. As trying as this was, he was just thankful nothing worse happened. That was enough. For now.

* * *

Basem got in Terry’s car and dialed Bruce.

Bruce answered, “ _Wayne, here._ ”

“Bruce,” Basem started up the car, “it’s me. I’m gonna be on my own tonight.”

“ _Why? Where’s Terry?_ ”

“Looking out for Max.”

“ _Elaborate._ ”

Basem drove off, heading for the Manor. “Someone drugged her at the party we went to. We got her out of there before anything bad happened, but… she’s still out. Sally said she’ll recover fine, but she’s not getting up any time tonight.”

Bruce was silent for a long time. He didn’t want Max in this life, but no one ever had the right to take advantage of any woman. And, with what Terry and Basem had said to him in recent days, it really made Bruce think about Max and all she had been to the team. Once he heard that, Bruce would rather die than let someone take advantage of her. Bruce didn’t even realize how silent he was or for how long until Basem spoke again.

“Bruce?” Bruce asked, concerned. “You still there?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Bruce answered. “ _Handle things tonight. I’ll send Terry a text and let him know I’m alright with him staying with Max._ ”

“Alright.”

“ _Do we know who drugged her?_ ”

“Yeah. I’m half tempted to pay him a visit. But don’t worry. I won’t.”

“ _Name?_ ” Bruce asked.

“Ket Gold.” Basem smirked. “Look for any Gotham hospitals for a guy with a swollen jaw.”

Bruce didn’t need any further explanation. “ _How hard did Terry punch him?_ ”

“Let’s just say… you’d be proud.”

Bruce smiled to himself. “ _I already am._ ” He hit a few keys on the computer. “ _I’ll look into this Ket Gold. You’re sure you can handle things on your own?_ ”

“I’ve done it before.”

“ _You’ve been doing it a lot lately._ ”

“Like I told you, Terry’s a good friend. So’s Max.” Basem thought about his and Bruce’s last real conversation. “And, by the way, I know you think I think otherwise… but you’re a good person, too, even if you don’t like to show it.”

“ _I could say the same to you,_ ” Bruce replied.

“Yeah.” Basem chuckled. “I guess you could.”

Bruce scoffed. “ _We’re both pretty awful at being nice to each other._ ”

“Yep. But we do have one thing in common.”

“ _Terry?_ ”

“Terry. I think that’s the common ground that’s kept us from killing each other. After all… the guy means a lot to us both.”

“ _Yes. Yes, he does._ ” Bruce exhaled. “ _Stay sharp out there._ ”

“You got it.” Basem smiled. “Boss.”


	10. Chapter 10

** Chapter 10 **

It was just after 9 A.M. when Terry’s phone rang. He looked down at it as it was on the floor next to the couch where he was asleep. He saw it was Bruce and answered, exhaling a deep breath, “Yeah?”

“ _How is she?_ ” Bruce asked.

“Still asleep. Hopefully, she’ll wake up just fine.” Terry slowly sat up.

“ _And how are you?_ ”

“Pissed. Basem tell you everything?”

“ _He confirmed that Gold handed her the drink but he admits that he didn’t see him drop anything in the glass, firsthand. Can we be sure that it was him that slipped it in her drink?_ ”

“Well, I didn’t see him, no,” Terry admitted. “But you know Max. She’s not a heavy drinker. Sally was with her all night. Sally said she and Max had one together and Basem only saw her have one other and that was from Ket.”

“ _I believe you,_ ” Bruce declared.

Terry sighed, rubbing his face. He dropped his hand. “Bruce. You know how I feel… and you know what I wanna do.”

“ _But you can’t._ ”

“I know, but…” Terry exhaled.

“ _I understand._ ” Bruce was silent for a second. “ _Have you taken her to the doctor yet?_ ”

“Not yet. We just got her home, so nothing else happened.”

“ _Good. Let me see what I can do to deal with Gold._ ”

“You want to?” Terry asked.

“ _After the talks we’ve had, you were right,_ ” Bruce admitted, “ _she_ is _more than just an asset. And we don’t let our friends get hurt and not do anything about it._ ”

“Damn right.”

“ _I have an idea._ ”

* * *

Later on that morning, Terry was in the kitchen, making breakfast and humming a tune.

Sally walked into the room and, before she greeted Terry, caught the sound of him humming. She smiled, immediately. “‘Count On Me’.”

Terry stopped and smiled.

“Bruno Mars. I love that song.”

Terry went back to cooking. “How’d you know?”

“My brother, Ray, used to sing to me all the time when I was little,” Sally explained. “Said that I’d always be able to count on him, no matter what.”

“Hm.”

“Have you been humming that a lot?”

Terry paused for a second before resuming his actions. “Only when it comes to Max.”

Sally walked around the counter and looked at him. “You really care about her, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“She’s lucky, then.”

He chuckled, softly.

“When we started talking on a more regular basis while she was in Hill High,” she explained, “all she could ever talk about was you. I can’t say how grateful I am that you came to her life. Her family tended to suck at the time.”

“Just a little. But she helped me, too.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah,” he confirmed. “She was there for me all the time. I really needed it. She came into my life not long after my dad died and… man, did I need it.” He exhaled. “I don’t know. There’s just… always been something special about Max. Right from the start. I just never realized how much then. The more I got know her… the more special I realized she is. I’m just grateful I ever met her.” He went back to cooking.

She smiled. “I’d kill to have a guy look at me the way you look at her, even how you look when you just talk about her.”

“How do I look?” he asked, never looking up.

“Like you would do anything for her. Like you’d fight the entire Legion of Doom, go to the end of the earth, or, the worst of all, go buy her feminine products.”

He looked up at her. “I _have_ bought her feminine products.”

Her eyes went wide. “Shut up.”

“More than once.”

“She’s asked you to do that more than once?”

“Did it once because she mentioned she was running out and had no time to go to the store.” He paused. “I have no idea why I told you that.”

Sally looked toward Max’s room then leaned over to Terry. “If you don’t convince her to marry you, I’m going to slap her like she owes me money.”

“Now, now. No need for violence.”

“Like hell! I’ve only asked _two_ men to buy that kind of stuff for me and that’s my dad and Ray. And that was because my mom was out of town.”

Terry laughed.

“How’d you guys become such good friends?” she asked.

“She never told you?”

“I mean, yeah, she has. But… what about from your end?”

He turned on the burner and let the skillet sit before leaning against the counter. “My life is hectic. Always has been. I wasn’t really looking for a circle of friends at the time but Max came along and… well, she was the one thing I didn’t even know I needed. But, when she got there, man, I was grateful. She helped me in every aspect of my life, from job to my girlfriend at the time to my family.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have made it this far without her. She’s been the one thing that’s anchored me down all this time. I’m just grateful for her.”

She could hear it in his voice. He really thought highly of Max, in more ways than one. “Terry, level with me and I swear it stays between us: do you have a thing for Max?”

“Do I even need to answer that?”

She smiled. “No. Just good to know that I was right.” She walked over to the table and leaned on it. “Why don’t you tell her?”

“Because I don’t wanna lose her. It’s a big risk. Gotta make sure it’s worth it first.”

She nodded. “I get that but I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“Well…” he sighed, “I’ll just wait until I’m sure. And until I know she knows.”

“I think we can wait forever and, at the end of the day, she’ll be your girl.”

“We’ll see.”

* * *

The first thing Max could feel was the warm light of the sun hitting her skin. She slowly opened her eyes and realized where she was: her bedroom in her apartment. She looked around, trying to remember how she got there. Slowly, it came back: the party, the shot, the dancing, the sudden feeling of a total loss of equilibrium, Ket’s hands being in places they shouldn’t have been, and Ket’s evil smile.

‘ _Something must’ve been in that drink._ ’ Max groaned. ‘ _Damn you, Ket._ ’

She heard voices coming from the kitchen. She started to move, not finding that to be the easiest thing at first, on account of still feeling a little dizzy, but her balance came back as she sat up. She looked to see that she was in a black tank top and her favorite flannel pajamas that Terry got her as a gag gift for her birthday one year. She lied and told him she hated them.

She gasped. ‘ _Terry…_ ’ She remembered how he came to her rescue last night. Not Batman. Terry. She walked out of her bedroom to see Sally sitting at the table and Terry messing around in the kitchen.

Sally took notice of Max first. Sally smiled, thankful Max was awake. “Hey, smarty,” Sally greeted.

“Hey,” Max replied. She looked over at Terry to greet him but nothing came out. She was just too overwhelmed.

“Hey, Max,” Terry smiled, relief in his voice.

Max ran at Terry and threw her around his neck and hugged him as hard as she could, burying her face in his shoulder. Terry was surprised, at first, but he, slowly, put his arms around her and hugged her back. It was not tight enough to hurt her but it was a firm.

Max thought about all the things that could’ve happened to her last night. “If you hadn’t been there…”

“Don’t,” Terry cut her off. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

Max scoffed. “I so hate I was the damsel in distress.”

Terry chuckled. “It can stay between the three of us. Oh, and Basem.”

“Just us four.”

“You got it.”

Max giggled but stopped and hugged him tighter. “Thank you, Terry.” She sighed. “I love you.”

Terry chuckled. “I love you, too.”

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Always the hero.”

“Ever the brain.” They released the hug.

Sally shook her head, “You two are so weird.”

“Said the girl with five ear piercings,” Max joked.

“Oh, yeah. You’re okay.”

Max smiled then looked at Terry. “I couldn’t stand up straight if I had a cane and could barely speak above a whisper. How’d you find me?”

Terry leaned on the counter, “I saw you off balance and shoving Ket then disappear. I was being overprotective. You can be mad, if you want.”

“Like hell. If you ever be that overprotective again, I’m buying you a car.”

“No need. Got one.”

Max smiled. She frowned then shook her head, “I can’t believe Ket. I’m gonna kill him.”

Sally raised her hand, “I’ll burn and bury the body.”

“Roll it back, Expendables,” Terry chided them both. “You’re not gonna kill him.”

“Well, that’s not fair! You got to punch him!”

Max blinked and looked at Terry, “You what?”

Sally grinned, “Oh, Max, it was awesome! He knocked out a tooth!”

“And I missed that?! Damn it all!”

“I’m sure someone has a video of it somewhere.”

Terry shook his head.

“Anyway, what are you gonna do about this?” Sally asked. “Ket drugged Max! Are we gonna let him just get away with nothing more than a busted-up jaw?”

“Of course not, but we’re going to do this the right and smart way.”

“Says the guy who punched him.”

Terry shrugged, “I was in the moment.”

Max giggled. “What other way do you have in mind?”

“I do work for Bruce Wayne. Who’s more connected than him?”

“How’s he gonna help?”

Terry’s cell phone rang. “Ah! Perfect timing!” He answered. “What’s the word, Bruce?” He fell silent. “Awesome. So, what do we need to do?” He was silent for a little longer. “Got it. Will do. Talk to you soon.” He ended the call and looked at Max. “Up for going to the hospital?”

“Sure,” Max shrugged.

“What’s that gonna do?” Sally asked.

“It’s gonna get the ball rolling,” Terry answered.

“For what?” Max asked.

Terry just gave a knowing smile.

* * *

**_Hours later._ **

After hastily packing a few bags, Ket hurried out of his dorm room. He knew he had to get out of town before anything more happened to him. After Terry’s punch, he wanted to be gone by last night, but his lack of equilibrium prevented him from going anywhere. He didn’t even bother with going to a hospital because he didn’t want to explain how he got the injury. He walked, in earnest, toward his car, going through the Quad, and right past Basem, who was casually reading a newspaper. Ket was in such a hurry, he didn’t even recognize Basem. Once Ket passed by him, Basem folded up his newspaper and followed after Ket, discreetly.

Ket got in his car and tried to start it only to find it wouldn’t start. Ket kept trying to start the car but gave up after two more tries. He hit the steering wheel and growled, rubbing his chin. He got out of the car, slamming the door, and walked back toward his dorm.

Chuckling, Basem pulled out his phone. He dialed and pressed the phone to his ear. “Terry. Yeah, he’s not going anywhere. Short circuit to his car worked like a charm.” He was quiet for a few seconds then smiled. “Really? Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to get a front row seat.”

* * *

Ket threw his stuff across the room, trying to figure out how to get the hell out of Gotham. He pulled out his cell phone to get a taxi to take him to the airport, so he could go anywhere but here. After scheduling a taxi, he purchased a plane ticket for Metropolis then sat down to wait for the cab. After an hour, Ket checked his watch and headed out of the door. He walked down the stairs and went to meet the cab.

He was walking across the quad when he heard sirens echoing through the school. He kept walking to wear the cab was supposed to meet him, but stopped when he saw a cop car talking with the cab driver. He doubled back but noticed cops everywhere he turned around. He headed for the main social building to try to avoid the police. He was walking through the hallway, where most the students were, and kept trying to find a way out but kept seeing cops at every entrance and exit. Ket started to panic and rushed to the large open atrium at the front of the building.

Basem watched Ket from the second floor of the atrium, enjoying watching this rat panic in the trap. Basem smiled when he looked toward the door and saw the most welcome person walking through the main entrance. Ket was headed toward the front door but stopped in his tracks and stared at who he saw.

Walking through the front door, in her favorite brown coat that she was never without, no matter the weather, came Commissioner Barbara Gordon.

Ket wanted to run but every exit was covered. He had nowhere to go.

Barbara walked right up to him. “Ket Gold?”

Ket broke out in a cold sweat. “Uh… yeah?”

Barbara pulled out her badge, “Commissioner Barbara Gordon, GCPD.”

“What… what can I do for you?”

Barbara put her badge away and placed her hands in her pockets. “You’re in a lot of trouble, young man.”

“What do you mean?”

The students in the forum began to turn their attention to the scene.

“Are you familiar with a street drug called Lights-Out?” Barbara asked.

Ket opened his mouth but words escaped him for a second. “Uh… uh, n-no… never heard of it.”

“Hmm.” Barbara walked up to Ket, circling him. “It’s a new drug, really. Only been on the streets about a year, which, as far as narcotics go, still makes it new. It’s powerful, nearly three times as strong as Rohypnol, also called roofies.” She stopped behind Ket, “Basically, it’s a date rape drug. Highly illegal. But it’s even worse. Have you heard that one milligram can even be considered lethal? The drug’s effects are so random that it’s considered a capital offense to even be in possession of it.”

Ket just stood, frozen in place.

“A few of days back, we picked up a drug dealer called Rush. He said that he sold Lights-Out recently and proved it. He gave us photos.”

Ket’s eyes went wide.

“Apparently, he doesn’t trust his clientele,” Barbara informed. “Can’t say I blame him. Now, think long and hard before you answer this next question: have you ever been in possession of Lights-Out?”

Ket opened his mouth and was about to deny it, “I…”

“Maxine Gibson.”

He shut his mouth and his eyes.

“I know her. She was at the hospital, just this morning. She had traces of Lights-Out in her system. She called me and told me was at a party with you. Now, before you speak again, keep in mind, I know that girl very well. I know how she drinks.” Barbara stared into Ket’s eyes. “She’s had 8 since she’s turned 21 and one at the party, besides what she had with you. The one you gave her makes 10. So, before you lie and say she’s a party girl or she had it coming or anything of that nature, remember I _know_ you’re lying. And that will make this so much worse for you, you have no idea.”

Ket looked at Barbara in fear.

“Now, one more time, scumbag… have you ever been in possession of Lights-Out?”

Ket swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yes.”

Barbara grabbed Ket’s shirt and pushed him until she slammed him against a near wall, shocking all of the students. Ket let out shaky breaths of fear, impressed by Barbara’s strength and speed.

From his perch, Basem grinned wider and chuckled, “And they say there’s no such thing as free, great entertainment!”

“I’ve got half a mind to lock you in a cell and throwaway the key!” Barbara shouted.

“But-but-but… I didn’t do anything!” Ket declared.

“We have your dealer! He confessed to selling you the drugs. That’s possession. If one milligram is missing, we can book you for attempted murder!”

“Murder?! Wha-no?! I bought three pills from the guy! THREE! They’re in my room! All of it! I never used it!”

“Never?” Barbara asked.

“I mean cut one piece in half and put it in Max’s drink last night,” Ket confessed, “but she went home! I didn’t do anything to her!”

“So, you admit to drugging her?!”

“Yeah, I did, but…”

“And what did you do to her after that?!”

“Nothing, I swear!”

“You’re lying!” Barbara shouted.

“I’M NOT!” Ket yelled.

“You drugged that girl!”

“YES! I DID BUT THAT WAS IT! I DIDN’T EVEN TAKE HER ANYWHERE! THAT BASTARD, MCGINNIS, TOOK HER OUT OF THE PARTY BEFORE I…” Ket stopped. He closed his eyes when he realized he confessed.

Barbara’s fist started shaking. Ket nearly did unspeakable things to a girl that, even Barbara knew, was one of the few shining lights in the Batman world.

Barbara pulled Ket closer and, speaking in a dangerous tone that would’ve made Bruce proud, declared, “I don’t know what’s worse in this town: supervillains or punks like you with the world at their disposal and they throw it all away.”

Ket opened his eyes back and stared at Barbara. “I want my lawyer.”

“You’re gonna need him, kid.” Barbara yanked Ket by the arm toward her officers.

The officers placed the handcuffs on Ket and led him out of the building, past of all his fellow students. As they got close to the car, he looked to see Max standing with Terry, Sally, and Basem, who threw in a small, mocking wave. Ket glowered at all four of them. As Max stared at Ket, she thought about everything he would’ve done to her if she hadn’t been cognizant enough to walk off the dance floor, fortunate for enough for Basem to give her a chance to escape, and blessed enough to have a best friend who cared for her enough to look out for her. That last thought made Max slowly reach for Terry’s hand. He readily offered it to her.

Sally gritted her teeth, “I wanna kick his…”

“Sal!” Max whispered, in a warning tone. She relaxed a bit. “I get first dibs.”

Sally smiled.

The officers put Ket in the back of the squad car. He looked up and glared at Max, one more time, before the car drove off.

Basem scoffed, “Whatever he gets, it’s too good for him.”

“Either way…” Terry took a deep breath. “I’m glad it’s over.”

“Me, too.” Max looked at her friends, “Guys…”

“If you say the words ‘thank you’,” Sally cut Max off, “I will smack you. You don’t thank friends for being friends.”

“Just… it’s schway to have friends like you guys. Despite the irritations.”

“Part of the friendships.”

Basem smiled, “C’mon. Lunch on me.”

“Can you afford that?” Terry asked.

“Sure. But, to be on the safe side… everyone order off the dollar menu.”

They had a laugh as they walked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: One character who never got enough credit in "Batman Beyond", in my opinion, is Barbara Gordon. Man, she is so tough! Remember, before kids had Lin Beifong, we had Commissioner Barbara Gordon.


	11. Chapter 11

** Chapter 11 **

Days passed after Ket’s arrest and it was the following Saturday that found Max sitting on the couch in her apartment, reading a book. Sally walked in the living room and sat on the couch, staring at Max.

Max looked up and smiled. She could see Sally was staring at her, contemplatively. “What?”

Sally opened her mouth but nothing came out. All she could think about was what almost happened to her best friend. She tried to smile and play off her concern. Instead, she swallowed the lump that formed and looked off.

Max was concerned. She’d never seen Sally look like this. “You okay?”

It took Sally a minute to say anything. She looked back at Max, “I’m just glad you’re okay.” She had done her best to put all this out of her mind but she couldn’t. “When Terry carried you out of the party… I was a little worried. Very worried.” She couldn’t hold it together anymore. She exhaled and her eyes started watering up. “Terrified.”

Max saw, for the first time, real fear on Sally’s face. “Sal…”

“I don’t have any sisters. And you’ve been a good friend, Max. And… after they arrested Ket the other day, I really thought about what he could’ve done and… and would’ve done if Terry hadn’t…” She placed her hands over her face, letting a few tears fall.

Max moved closer to Sally and pulled her into a hug. Sally laid her head on Max’s shoulder and cried for a while.

Sally exhaled and wiped her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m crying.” She laughed.

Max laughed, “It’ll be our secret.”

Sally let out another laugh and took a deep breath. She stared at Max. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

Max rubbed Sally’s arm, giving her a warm smile.

A knock came to their door.

Sally smiled. “One guess as to who that is.”

“He’s just checking on me,” Max replied.

“Exactly.”

Max growled and got up. She answered the door and found Terry smiling at her. She didn’t want to admit it but heart did flutter a bit to see him and that smile of his always brightened her day. “Hey,” Max greeted.

“Hey,” Terry replied. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Wish I could’ve hit him but whatever.”

Terry chuckled. “Haven’t you eaten yet?”

“Nope.”

“Go get dressed. We’re heading out for the day.”

“Out where?” Max asked.

“We need a destination?” Terry asked.

Max laughed.

Terry walked in the apartment and waved at Sally, “Yo.”

Sally waved back, “Yo.” She got to her feet, “What’s going on?”

“I’m kidnapping Max.”

Sally folded her arms. “Damn. I always knew this day would come.” She shrugged. “Oh, well. Them’s the breaks. Nice knowin’ ya, Max.”

“Really?!” Max shouted. “You wanted to knock Ket out, but _that’s_ all the fight you’d put up against him?!” she pointed at Terry.

“Have you seen this guy?” Sally pointed to Terry, as well. “I can take most guys, Ket without even trying. But, with that one? You’re on your own.”

Max rolled her eyes. She looked at Terry, “Give me, like, 15 minutes and I’ll be ready.”

Terry shrugged. “I got nothing but time.”

Max disappeared into her room and Sally gave Terry a knowing stare. He shrugged and exhaled.

“Go get ‘er, slugger,” Sally whispered.

“Thanks,” Terry replied. “Wish me luck, will ya? I might need it.”

“I doubt that severely.”

* * *

Terry took Max out for breakfast where they acted as though the events with Ket had not even taken place. It was the façade they both had put up to keep the status quo but Terry knew Max and himself. It wasn’t going to last forever. Regardless, he wasn’t going to let her smile fall from her face. Ket’s evil wasn’t going to ruin her; that much Terry swore. After breakfast, they headed for the V.R. Room and played games for hours. No matter how bad the days, that always cheered them up. It was their escape from the rest of the world.

It was just after five when they left the arcade and were walking toward Terry’s car when he looked at Max and noticed the somber look on her face.

“Max?” Terry asked.

Max didn’t respond.

“Hey,” he nudged her.

“Huh?” She looked at him.

“You okay?”

She shook her head, “Just… just thinking.”

“About what?” he asked.

“About Ket. I just keep thinking about what he was going to do to me.” She sighed. “I should’ve known he was up to something.”

He stopped walking, “Why?”

She stopped and faced him, “Because I should’ve known he was off his nut!” She whispered, “What a damn jackass.”

He walked up to her and placed his hand on her arm, “We were both trying to not see supervillains every time we turn around. We made a bad judgement call, but it’s all okay, now. Besides, you can forget him. He’s done. You’ll never have to deal with him again.”

“You sure?”

“I talked to the commissioner. He took a plea deal. 50 years and, even when he gets out, he’ll be in the registry for offenders.”

“What? Just for what he did to me? He didn’t even…” She understood the only reason he would have to take that deal and receive such a sentence. She shook her head and whispered, “No.”

He looked down then back at her. “They… found other girls. Ones who were too scared to come forward before now.” He sighed. “Some were as recent as six months ago.”

Her mouth fell open as her blood ran cold. “So… he really was gonna…”

“Max.”

She looked she was close to tears. “I can’t believe what I almost let him do to me.”

“First, you weren’t _letting_ him do anything,” Terry said, quickly. “That’s a stupid thing for you to even think. Second, he is a snake. Third…” He thought about it, “well, third, he’s a snake. And, fourth, he wasn’t going to do anything. Do you hear me? He would’ve been a dead man.”

“You don’t kill,” Max reminded.

“No, but I can be tempted, and you’d be surprised what some people can live through.”

She scoffed, smiling, “Yeah.” She looked at him. “You’re one of the few people in my life who has never let me down.”

“I’ve let you down plenty.”

“Like hell, you have. Not one day, Terry, and you need to know that. Not one day, have you ever let me down.”

He nodded.

She shook her head. “And just like always… I mean… if you hadn’t been there… who knows what would’ve happened to me.”

“ _Nothing_ was going to happen to you, that’s what I’m saying. I wouldn’t have let him do a damn thing to you. I’d have broken him in two before I let anything happen.”

She smiled. “I know you would’ve. Always my guardian angel.”

“Even when it’s annoying?” he asked.

“Especially then.” She kissed him on the cheek again. “C’mon. I know what we should go do, now.”

“And that is?”

“Go-karts!”

He stared at her, skeptically. “Max, we’re in college!”

“And we just spent hours in an arcade. Besides, go-karts are schway, screw our age! We’re going!”

“I’m the one driving. Why can’t I say where we’re going?”

“Aww,” Max pinched his cheek, “look at you! Thinking you have a choice!” She took Terry by the wrist and pulled him to the car while he rolled his eyes and laughed.

They went to the only go-kart track in the Gotham area, Speedy Lanes, which sat right on the outskirts of the city. As they waited in line, Terry noticed Max was trembling. He laughed.

She turned around and looked at him, “What?”

“That anxious, huh?” he asked.

“Yes.” She smirked, “I’m feeling a need.” She stared, dramatically, directly ahead. “A need for speed.”

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you just said that.”

She smiled and looked back at him, “Jealous? It was epic.”

“It was the exact opposite of epic,” he declared.

“Whatever. I do wanna race, though. That and I need to show you you’re not the only one who can drive a fast car.”

“Maybe. I’m just the best, most skilled driver, period.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Care to make a bet on that?” she asked.

“Loser buys dinner?” he replied.

She pressed her hand to her chest, feigning offense. “You mean, you wouldn’t treat a gorgeous girl like me to dinner?”

“I buy you plenty of meals! It’s your turn.”

“Well, if the criterion is me losing to you, get ready to pony up some more cash, McGinnis.”

“In your dreams, Gibson.”

“Oh, didn’t anyone tell you?” she asked. “I make all of my dreams a reality.”

“This one’s staying a fantasy,” he declared.

“Big talk, big boy. Can you back it up?”

“Lady, you have no idea how much I can back that up.”

“Oh, my, Mr. McGinnis.”

They shared a laugh after that.

Their turn arrived for the go-karts, along with six other competitors. But the rest didn’t matter: this was a one-on-one race. No quarter asked, no quarter given; for them, in their imaginations, the bet for dinner meant everything was on the line. When the referee waved the flag, the racers peeled out. Leaving their competition behind, Terry and Max weaved around the silly course, outlined by old tires, as though they were in the Indianapolis 500 and took it just as seriously. Max had a solid lead on Terry and she could see the finish line was, at least, 50 feet away.

She knew she had this race won.

Suddenly, her ears caught the sound of another engine closing in on her. “No.”

She looked behind her to see a very confidently smiling Terry closing in on her.

“No, no, no!” She looked back straight-ahead and floored the pedal. “No, you don’t!”

Terry pulled up alongside her, threw a smirk at her, and passed her up to win the race.

“NO!” Max screamed as she came in second. She pulled to a stop behind him, got out faster than she drove, and ran up to him, “Argh! How did you do that?”

He held the same smirk. “I’m the man.”

“You… you…”

“And to be the man, you gotta beat the man. Woo!”

“You… little…”

“And since you couldn’t beat the man,” he continued, “you owe him dinner. And I am one expensive-ass date.”

She stared at him, trying to stay mad, but, the more she tried, the easier the smile crept on to her lips and, soon, she couldn’t help it: she burst into a fit of laughter.

Terry laughed right along with Max. As he laughed, he took note of her. She was smiling. She was having fun, she was happy. After what almost happened last week, Terry was relieved and couldn’t ask for more. This was enough. It really was. He was in love with her but she was fine. That mattered the most. Everything else would be taken care of in time. For now, this was enough.

Night came to the city as Terry and Max sat on bench in High Garden Park which provided an excellent view of the city since the park was raised about five stories and sat on the north end of the city. They had a simple dinner, Terry taking mercy on Max, and went to the park to close the day out. They stared out at Gotham, taking in all of the lights. When the city was at peace, it really was beautiful.

Max continued gazing at her home, appreciating every bit of it. “Thank you, Terry.”

“No problem,” Terry replied.

“I don’t mean just for today. I mean for everything… and I mean _everything_. From the day we became friends until now, thank you.”

“It’s not a big deal, Max.”

She gazed at him. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

He fixed his gaze on her as well.

“If it wasn’t for you… I have no idea where I’d be.”

“Double for me.”

After sitting a while longer, they took their leave of High Garden; it was almost time for Terry to start his patrol. They headed back to Max’s apartment and stopped at the door.

She looked him over and shook her head. “I have no idea why I got a friend like you. I’m no one special.”

“You’re the most special person in the world.” He smiled, smugly. “Take that however you want.”

She laughed. “And you’re a jackass.”

“But a handsome one.”

They both laughed. Max wrapped her arms around Terry and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, engulfing her into a tender hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Anytime, every time,” he replied.

She moved away from his chest and looked at him. What she did next, she didn’t even think about. She just did it.

She moved up to his face and pressed her lips to his. She wasn’t thinking or considering the consequences. At this point, she was lucky that she hadn’t been violated worse than she had been by Ket. And this man that she was kissing protected her and had always been there for her like no one else. She had to show him exactly what he meant to her, even if it proved to be a mistake later.

Terry was shocked that this was happening but stopping it was not even a distant thought. He wanted this. He had for a long time but never thought he would get it. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. He knew that this shouldn’t happen, that she was vulnerable, that she is his best friend.

But this kiss was the personification of perfection. And every second that ticked by, drew them closer to the place they were both afraid to be. After another thirty seconds of this “forbidden” pleasure, they separated. Their minds were still in the pleasurable haze until the full reality set in. They were short of breath and wide eyed as they tried to figure out to say next.

“U-uh…” Max stuttered out.

“That, uh…” Terry was just as lost.

“I should, umm… go.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He pointed back toward the street. “Uh… crime.”

“Yeah, you should… should get on that.”

“Right, yeah.”

She reached for the doorknob but kept missing it. She finally had to look at it to see it and grab a hold of it. She opened the door a bit. “Good night, Terry.”

“Good night, Max,” he said.

She looked him over and rushed him to plant one more kiss on his lips. She then hurried inside and closed the door.

Terry stood staring the door for a while, completely out of sorts at what just happened. He couldn’t believe it, but he had to since he couldn’t get the feeling of her lips on his out of his mind. And he never wanted to. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and walked to the car.

* * *

Max heard Terry walk away as she had her back pressed against the door since she walked inside. She pressed her fingers to her lips and slowly slid down the door until she was seated on the floor. “Oh… my… god…” she breathed out.

Sally walked out of her room, heading for the kitchen to see Max lost in thought. “Why are you sitting on the floor?” She walked around toward the fridge and opened it.

“Because I just kissed Terry,” Max answered, still in a stupor.

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Sally picked up an apple, “I can see how that can throw you for a--WHAT?!” She threw the apple back in the fridge, slammed the door, ran around the counter, and stood staring at Max in disbelief. “What did you just say?! What did you JUST say?!”

“I kissed Terry.”

Sally stared in shock then slowly smiled. “I knew it. I knew it! I KNEW IT!” She started to perform a severely embarrassing dance, but it was one of complete happiness. She even completed her dance of joy with a pelvic thrust, shouting, “UH! Double up! UH UH!” She exhaled, raising her arms in victory, “Whoo! Good to know I was right!”

Max rubbed her hair and started to look concerned.

Sally took notice and figured what was bothering Max. Sally walked over and sat down next to her, crossing her legs. “Do you want him?” Sally asked.

“I don’t know,” Max answered. “I don’t know what just happened. I don’t know what this means.”

“I can tell you what it means.”

“I don’t know if this was… real or just my knee-jerk reaction to what’s been happening.”

“Who cares if it’s a knee-jerk reaction? Those are real, too.”

“But… what will this do to our friendship?” Max asked.

“For you two?” Sally replied. “Not a damn thing.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Well, like everything else, take some time to think about it.” Sally grinned. “But not too long. I don’t think Terry wants to wait anymore.”

“I kissed him first.”

“He didn’t stop you.” Sally smiled bigger. “I can bet he didn’t even want to.”

“Still…” Max said, unsure.

“Max.”

“Yeah?”

“You told Terry you love him.”

Max looked at Sally, confused. “What? What are you talking about?”

“The morning after the party.”

“Oh! That. Yeah, I said it then, but I didn’t mean it like…”

“You didn’t?” Sally interrupted.

“No, I didn’t.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah!” Max thought about that. “I think.” At that moment, she realized that she didn’t know she meant “I love you.” Even more perplexing, how did he mean it when he said it back. She ran her hand over her face. “What do I do?”

Sally lightly bumped against Max. “What feels right.”

“What if that’s wrong?”

“Did he push you off when he kissed you?”

“Maybe he was in shock.”

“Maybe he wanted it.”

Max sighed. “Maybe he did. I’ll… talk to him about it soon.”

“That’s fair,” Sally admitted. “But, I get a feeling… you don’t have to wait long anymore. The answer’s staring you in the face.”

* * *

Terry walked into his apartment and plopped down on the couch. He threw his back against the seat and stared at the blank television. All he could think about was kissing Max and how good she was at it. He ran his hand over his face. “Wow,” he breathed out.

A knock came to his door.

“Come in,” he said.

Basem walked in, “Hey.” He took note of Terry’s demeanor and scowled a bit. “What’s with you?”

Terry just sat silently.

“Hello? Terry?”

Terry looked at Basem.

“What’s wrong?” Basem asked again.

“I kissed her.”

Basem’s eyes went wide. “Her who?!”

Terry jumped to his feet, “MAX! WHO DO YOU THINK?!”

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

“I KNOW!”

“WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!”

“A LITTLE WHILE AGO!”

“WHY?!”

“IT JUST DID?!”

“WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?!”

“I DON’T…” Terry stopped and collected himself. “I don’t know.”

Basem was stunned but couldn’t stop smiling. He nodded, approvingly, “You finally did the deed.”

“Oh, shut up!”

“So,” Basem sat down and put his feet on the coffee table, “what happened?”

Terry opened his mouth to speak but stopped and groaned. “Just… I don’t even… I mean, we were… she just… then-then I said… then we just… and then… the moment… because out of nowhere, she just… i-it all was like…” He stopped when realized no real thoughts were coming through.

“Wow. That’s amazing. You said so many words and never completed a sentence.”

Terry sighed. He shook his head then ran his hands over his face and head, “Oh, what did I do? What did I do?”

“What any red blooded man would do if Maxine Gibson was even remotely attracted to them.”

Terry rolled his eyes. “I was trying to avoid this.”

“Doesn’t look like you can, anymore,” Basem pointed out.

Terry growled. “Figure it out later. We got work to do.”

“Right. Maybe the night air will do you some good.”

“That’s what scares: you’re probably right.”

They left the apartment to start patrol, but Terry knew this would probably be one of those days that he wouldn’t get much sleep. If any at all. Fortunately, he was used to that. That, in itself, was a blessing and a curse.

* * *

Max hadn’t been able to sleep. She had been barely able to relax. All she thought about was that kiss and Sally’s words to her. She kept thinking about all she and Terry had been going through, in just the past few months. He said he loved her. How did he mean that? How she did she take it? How did she mean it when she said that she loved him?

‘ _I gotta know,_ ’ Max thought. ‘ _Now!_ ’

She realized she hadn’t changed into sleeping clothes and shrugged. No need to get dressed. She looked at the clock. 1:13 AM. He’d probably still be out or just getting back by the time she got to his apartment. She slid on her shoes and, when she got up, she turned too fast and knocked over a stack of books.

“Dammit,” she grunted. She picked the books up and threw him on the bed. She walked out of her room, heading for the front door.

“Max?” Sally asked, sleepily.

Max turned to see Sally, wiping her eyes.

“It’s 1 in the morning. What the hell?”

“I’m going out,” Max announced.

Sally yawned, “Where?”

“To talk to Terry and shut up.”

That woke Sally up. “What?”

“I said shut up.”

“Going to see a guy after midnight is known as a…”

“Terry’s not like that!”

Sally smiled. “It’s just fun to hear you defend him and his virtuosity.”

Max growled and rolled her eyes. She reached the door and stopped. She knew, once she opened it, there was no going back. She was going to her car, going to his apartment, and life, as she knew it, would never be the same. But this had to be resolved. Who knows? The risk could be worth the reward. At the very least, she’d have her answers about herself and Terry.

“Stop being afraid, Gibson.”

Sally’s words snapped Max out of her trance.

Max smirked and looked at Sally. “You wish I was afraid, Croft.” She threw the door open and headed out.


	12. Chapter 12

** Chapter 12 **

Max arrived at Terry’s in record time, attributing that to the late hour, but it was her own haste that made her drive faster. After getting to his apartment, she knocked on Terry’s door, getting really anxious when he didn’t answer. She wasn’t even sure if he was home yet or if he’d been home at all. He did sometimes sleep at Wayne Manor after a long night. She knocked again.

“Easy, easy,” Terry’s voice came from the other side. “I heard ya the first time.” He opened the door and his eyes widened with surprise when he saw Max standing there. “Max…” he whispered.

Max wanted to respond but all she could focus on was the fact that Terry was wearing a plain black pair of trousers and no shirt.

He looked down and noticed, as well. “Oh, umm… sorry. I just got home and, uh…”

“No, it’s… uh… alright, just…” She stopped, having completely lost her train of thought as several other inappropriate but completely delicious ideas had taken over. Had she not have kissed him a few hours ago, she wouldn’t be having this many thoughts or this hard of a time focusing. It certainly wasn’t easy right now.

It wasn’t any easier for him but he forced himself to focus. “I’ll, uh, throw a shirt on. Come on in.”

She walked in and stood by the door, closing it behind her, while he went to his bedroom. He came back a second later wearing a plain white shirt, to her chagrin.

“What’s going on?” Terry asked.

“I want to talk,” Max answered.

He figured this was coming. “About the kiss?”

“About everything, including that.”

“Well, you kissed me.”

“I know that, but… lately, it seems like that’s the road we’ve been heading down.”

“Tell me about it,” he agreed.

“Look, maybe this is a mistake but I gotta know,” she declared. “I have to understand everything before it gets too out of hand, ya know?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“So… what’s going on with us?”

He sighed. “Do you really wanna talk this out?”

“Yes. I’m tired of living in this limbo of friends or…” She didn’t know what to call it. “Or what. I don’t want to be unsure anymore.”

He shrugged. “I guess we should talk about this.” He paused. “Should’ve done it long before now.”

She shrugged, as well. “Maybe. So, let’s just… deal with it now.”

He exhaled. “Alright. Have a seat.”

She did so, sitting on one end of the couch.

He sat down on the other end of the couch, leaving the space between them, for now. He sat, staring straight ahead, as he gathered his thoughts. “I’ve been… dealing with some feelings toward you. Some very strong ones, very _definite_ ones. When I realized what they were… I did to my damnedest trying to keep myself from feeling this way about you.”

She swallowed. “Feeling… what way?” Part of her knew but had to hear it.

He bowed his head for a second then looked back up. “When I said… ‘I love you, too’ the day after the party… I meant it.”

“You meant it?”

He closed his eyes then opened them to look at her.

She slowly started to understand. “Oh.” Then, she fully understood, letting a slow, “Ohhhh.” She kept telling herself that she didn’t this coming, that she had no idea that Terry felt that way. But she was only lying to herself. So badly, in fact, she couldn’t form the words to tell that lie to Terry.

“I know we’ve been friends forever but…” he paused. “Max, I’ve always found you amazing.” He stopped for a second when he realized he was about to admit all this. “Everything about you. You’ve _always_ been amazing. Without even realizing it, I just…” He exhaled. “I’ve been thinking about so much. All the time. And it’s been like…” He let out another breath. He stared at her and finally gathered all of his courage, “I love you and want to be with you, Max.”

His bluntness took her breath away. She wasn’t angry. She was grateful. She just didn’t know how to show it yet.

He bowed his head, “Harder to say to you than I thought.”

“Why?” she asked.

He looked back at her, “Because we’re best friends. Because I don’t want… I _can’t_ lose that, Max. I can’t ever lose you. You have no idea how much I need you. That’s why I tried to push these feelings down or ignore them. I mean… if you didn’t even remotely feel the same way, I’d lose you or, maybe, you think that you couldn’t trust me, or that I was playing you or, even worse, you’d think it was just me being lonely. It’s none of that, but telling you all this… I just worried about how wrong it could go. I got scared.”

She was surprised to hear that come from him, even more so than when Mel admitted she was afraid to get married.

“So, all this time, I’ve been trying to keep myself from saying or doing anything that would ruin our friendship. Just kept it to myself.”

“So… that’s why you never said anything?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I’d rather have you as my friend and you never know than tell you and have you not comfortable around me anymore.”

She could understand that. Who couldn’t? “Terry… I wouldn’t ditch you. Even if you telling me would make me feel… awkward, I wouldn’t just leave you. We’ve been through too much.” She smiled. “Besides, turns out I still need you to be my hero. In and out of uniform.”

He smiled. “I’d be there for you, no matter what.”

“I know.” She considered everything she just heard. It was quite a lot to absorb. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Love me?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“I just… why me?”

He chuckled, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I mean… you’re Batman!”

“And?”

“And…” She stopped. “And I’m… just… me.”

He was shocked by that. If he didn’t know better, he could swear he heard a lack of self-confidence. “What do you mean ‘just’ you?”

She sighed. “Look, Terry… I know that…” She shrugged, “Well, let’s face it: I’m hot. I mean… I’m pretty damn sexy.”

“No argument from me.”

“But, I know you live a life where you meet way sexier girls than me. On a pretty much nightly basis. Heck, you do work with Aquawoman and Barda and Wonder Woman, who doesn’t look a day over a 30. And I mean a super-hot 30. Hell, even that Melanie chick was hot.”

“Big deal.”

“Very big deal.” She smirked. “Especially in Barda’s case.”

He laughed. “She’s happily married. Besides, she’d probably break me in half.” He shrugged, “Though, there are worse ways to go.”

She laughed. “But see? There you go. There are much sexier women than me out there.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

She blushed.

“And, if this was just a strictly physical thing, you’d might have a point. But it’s not. So, what else you got?”

She shook her head. “What if we drive each other crazy?”

“We already do,” he pointed out.

“What if you ever hate me?”

“I couldn’t if I tried.”

She sighed. “What if it doesn’t work out… and we… stop being friends?”

He moved closer to her. “What if it does work out… and we get as close to a ‘happily ever after’ as Batman can get?”

She wanted that. She wanted to believe that. “Terry…” She stopped and shook her head.

“What is it, Max? Tell me what’s really bothering you.”

She kept this reasoning buried because she was afraid if she let herself fully know it, she wouldn’t be able to hide it from anyone. However, this is why she came here. If any of this had even the slightest hope of being real, she had to tell him the truth. She was shocked that was hard to do: she always told him the truth before.

“What if you realize you don’t love me?” She had to fight back a tear. “What if you leave me… like everyone else does?”

He was shocked to hear that. “Max!”

“Let me explain.” She paused for a while, coming to terms with herself before she did it with him. She finally found the courage to be honest to him and admitted, “I love you, Terry. In that way. I’m _in_ love with you. I kept telling myself that I didn’t and, even if I did, to not love you.”

“Why?”

“Well, like you said, I didn’t know how you felt.” She looked away. “For another… look at my track record of people mattering to me up and ditching me when someone else comes along.”

He knew one event in recent memory that could put her on that line of thinking: her sister’s engagement. “Mel’s not doing that. She _wouldn’t_ do that. Not ever. Especially, not to you.”

“Okay, yeah, she wouldn’t. She’s just getting married, not kicking me to the curb. You’re right.” Max shook her head. “My parents did, though.”

Terry sighed. That was a hard point to argue most days.

“I hate saying this out loud and you know that but… yeah, Terry…” She looked at him. “I’m scared.”

He understood.

“I’m scared this won’t work or you’ll find out that I’m not as awesome as I know I am.”

He scoffed and smiled at her joke.

But her own attempt at wit didn’t lighten her mood like she hoped it would. She still had her fear. “I’m scared… you’ll spend more time around me and get sick of me. That you won’t like me. You won’t love me. And, that, one of the best things that has ever happened to me, probably _the_ best thing… will go away like everything else.”

He stared at her in silence for a long time. “You’d have to do a lot for me to ever not like you.” He put his hand on hers. “And for me to not love you… you’d have to become a completely different person. In every way.”

She smiled. “What about get sick of me?”

“We already said we got on each other’s nerves.”

They both laughed.

“I don’t know what’s in the future for us, Max,” he explained. “I never do. I never have. I always thought my parents would stay married and, when they didn’t, that threw my entire view of what the future would hold into a really weird limbo. I could never figure what could possibly happen tomorrow. I didn’t know before the suit and I sure as heck didn’t know after it.” He looked her over. “The best example of that? I had no idea when I met you that I’d end up feeling this way about you. When I first met you, I saw you as just a cool, smarty pants.”

She laughed.

“Then, you became my best friend. One of the few things I could always hold on to in my crazy life. Do you know how much you’ve anchored me down?” He scoffed, “I would’ve been in so much more trouble without you.” He scratched the back of his head. “Because of that, because of who you are, I couldn’t stop myself. More and more, Max, I just fell for you. And I don’t regret it.”

She was stunned. “Really?”

“No. Because the fact that I got to know you well enough to fall for you… it’s something I’m grateful for.” He smiled. “Thanks for letting me be in your life that long.”

She shrugged, “You put up with me that long.”

He shook his head, “Wasn’t hard.”

“Says you. Besides, you weren’t the only one who had the other as a rock through their crazy life. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been there for me.”

“You would’ve made it through. Somehow.”

“I don’t know if that’s true or not,” she admitted.

He took her hand and squeezed it. “I do. It’s just one more reason why I feel this way. You are so damn strong, Max. You never needed me. But me? I’ve needed you.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

“So… if this doesn’t work out, which I think it will, never think that I would leave you in any way.”

This was all so surreal for her. “Am I really worth all this to you?”

“You have no idea. You really don’t.” He shrugged, “It may take a long time for you to find out.”

“I’d like to find out.”

He smiled at her, “Me, too.” He shrugged. “Sooooo?”

She shook her head, wanting to be frustrated, but she couldn’t be. Instead, she smiled and growled, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I fell in love with Batman! That is so cliché!”

“Oh, you always loved Batman!”

“Fine! I fell in love… with…” Her eyes widened. “…you.”

He smiled.

“Whoa,” she whispered. “I fell in love with you.” She shook her head. “God, Terry. I can’t believe this is the way our lives turned out.”

“I know, right? Who could’ve seen this coming?”

“I heard jokes for two years that we were already couple.”

“Yeah, Basem teases me about it when he can.”

“Sally does it all the time. You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I have a good idea.”

They laughed, lightly, then silence took over. Things had just changed. It was a good change, but a change, nonetheless.

“So… what happens now?” she asked.

He shrugged, “I was… really hoping I could kiss you.”

“I never said you couldn’t.”

“Yeah, but you started it last time. Wasn’t sure that you still felt that vibe?”

She stared at him, a sultry look in her eyes. “Oh, really? You’re not getting that vibe now? Check your radar, McGinnis.”

He moved closer, seeing the gap he left between them no longer necessary. “Didn’t notice it was going off. How stupid of me.”

She helped close the gap, “You better fix that.”

Their lips met and it was far more intentional than last time. It was very strong. The passion took over the two of them. She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed an arm around his waist. They made out a little longer then stopped, getting their breath back.

She gazed into his eyes, feeling all of the love that she had been suppressing. She traced his jaw line with her finger, “Terry… if we do this… you know that I’m all in, right?”

He smiled. “I want that, too.”

“Good.” She stared at him, loving the beauty of his blue eyes. “Because I don’t want to be afraid, anymore. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I already told you that you aren’t…”

“What I mean is… I don’t want to lose the chance to be with someone who really loves me because I’m afraid of being in love.”

He was taken aback. “Max…”

“I love you, Terry. I really do. So damn much, Terry.” She sighed. “God! I am so sorry I’ve been trying to keep you at a distance.”

“Max. I get it.”

“I’ve just… with Mom and Dad… how they used to argue and… I never wanted to lose you like that. I never wanted you to hate me or-or regret being with me or…”

“Max.”

She stopped her rant.

“You know I’ve been there, too,” he replied, “with my parents, if only a little.”

She nodded.

“And I love you, too. I’m all in.”

She smiled. “Good.” She shrugged, moving awkwardly. “Then… you’re gonna have to forgive me for this.”

“And that is?”

“Something I’ve kinda wanted to do… not for a _long_ time but for a little while.”

“Alright and what’s that…”

In a quick movement, she climbed in his lap and kissed him with all she had, letting go of all of the inhibitions she’d been holding on to.

He stopped momentarily and, hurriedly, breathed out, “Oh, that!”

“Uh-huh!” She pressed her lips against his again. She stopped for another second and, asked, breathlessly, “I did say sorry for this right?”

“Trying to figure out why you’re apologizing?” he asked, also out of breath.

“Oh, good! So, I can keep going?”

“Max, will you please shut up?”

“Done.” She kissed him again.

They made out for several more minutes, completely lost in this passion. After another series of kisses, Max pulled away and stared at Terry.

“Terry, I want to do something else,” she declared, “but it’s something I will only do if you mean it. You really mean that you’re all in with me.”

“Max,” he replied. “I am all in. You know I mean it. I wouldn’t mess your emotions that way.”

She smiled, realizing something very important. “I do know that. I always have.” She climbed off of his lap and, after standing up, she took hold of his hand, and began heading toward his bedroom.

It took a second for him to register what was happening but, when he realized it, his eyes went wide and pulled her back, “Whoa, whoa, Max!” he stopped her, causing her to look at him. “Max…” He fought every male urge that was raging inside of him to be rational and considerate. It wasn’t easy. “I want to. Believe me, I want to! Like… so damn much, I want to! But…” He shook his head, “not if you think this is just what you have to do to… make sure I’m all in or that I’m gonna stick around or anything.”

She stared at him in surprise.

“I love you, Max. I’m with you, no matter what. We don’t have to do this unless you want to and you’re ready.”

She couldn’t stop smiling. This was just one reason out of so many that made her happy she did this. “You love me, Terry. I love you. I trust you.” She walked backed up to him and kissed him. “I know you’re not playing with me, and I know I’m not some cheap thrill for you. For you to even say all that, right now, I know that I matter to you. You’re not taking advantage of me. I know you and I know your heart.”

He smiled.

“I want this. I do.”

He heard her, loud and clear. He took her hand this time and led her into the room, closing the door behind them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To know me is to know I am a huge of fan of Kyoko Kasshu Minamino on FFNet. To express how much, would be a story all by itself. (But seriously guys, she is TOTALLY awesome!) Anyway, I openly admit, I took the opening scene for this chapter right from her story "Bread and Butter." Don't worry: I cleared it with her and she knows all about it but that story was a huge inspiration on me. I loved it and the setting fit perfectly here. Consider this a tribute, if nothing else.

** Chapter 13 **

“ _You can count on me like one two three, I’ll be there, And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two, You’ll be there…_ ”[1]

The music softly echoing through the apartment caused Max to slowly stir. As she woke up, she found herself feeling so relaxed and calm. She had never felt so comfortable in bed, not even her own. She looked around and didn’t see Terry but she didn’t worry about it. She knew he was about. She stretched and relaxed a little more, a huge smile on her face. With everything she had been through, this was more than what she wanted, this is what she needed. She heard movement coming from the kitchen and figured her new boyfriend was making breakfast for her. As she was wearing nothing more than a pair of panties, she got up, put on one of his t-shirts, slipped on a pair of his boxers, and walked into the living room to see Terry in the kitchen.

She stopped at the kitchen entrance and folded her arms. “Wow. All that last night and you can cook, too? I think I really _am_ in love.”

“I do aim to please,” he replied.

She hissed, sensually, “Ooh! You please, oh, so, very well.”

He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “Did I now?”

“Did I not scream? Constantly?”

“Maybe you were being appreciative.”

“I’m appreciative but not that much. I don’t scream unless I’m… _really_ enjoying it.”

“Good to know.” He finally took notice her attire. “Is that my shirt?”

“Yeah-huh,” she confirmed.

He leaned his head to the side, “Why do I find that really hot?”

She walked up to him, “‘Cause I’m wearing it and I’m hot as hell. Anything looks good on me.”

He conceded. “Yeah, that’s why. Or off of you.”

“Was that a request?”

“Possibly.”

“Hmm.” She lifted up on her toes and kissed him. An innocent one, at first, but they caught up in themselves very quickly. Terry abandoned his pans and wrapped his arms around Max while she put her hands on his neck, pulling him closer.

Terry took a breath and exhaled. “We better stop before we get too carried away. I am cooking after all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max breathed out. She licked her lips, savoring the feeling of his kiss. “God, you’re too good at that.”

“Look who’s talking.” He went back to cooking.

Her eyes traced up and down his body, “What about _after_ breakfast?”

He tried not to smile too big. “Do you wanna eat or not?”

“Depends. Are you on the menu?”

He looked at her and chuckled, “Go sit down, woman!”

They ate breakfast in a comfortable and pleasant silence. They were loving the new atmosphere that had come over the two of them. Not even a full 12 hours of a relationship yet and it already showed signs of great things to come. They finished their meal and Terry was cleaning up when a knock came to the door.

Terry looked at Max then looked at the door. “Who is it?”

“Who else visits you, jackass?” Basem’s voice came, indignantly, from the other side.

Terry debated whether or not letting him. “Hold up.” He walked over to Max, moving behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder. “Want me to get rid of him?”

She giggled. She nestled her face closer to his, “He’s gonna know sooner or later. Let ‘im in.”

He smiled, kissed her cheek, walked over to the door, and opened it.

Basem walked in, looking at him, perplexed, “Since when do you take forever to open the door?”

“Since I have company,” Terry answered.

“Company?” Basem looked saw Max wearing one of Terry’s shirts, boxers, and, from what he could tell, nothing else. As good as a detective as Basem tended to be, no one needed to be a genius to figure out what happened here. Basem looked back and forth between the couple and, slowly, a smile formed on his face. He started to chuckle.

“Shut up,” Terry ordered.

Basem laughed and exclaimed, “ _Génial!_ ”

“You know I never understand you when start speaking French.”

“Very loosely translated, it means ‘awesome’. Though, in this case, I mean it as, you Americans put it, ‘alrighty then’.”

“Shut up!” Terry said, agitatedly.

“Anyway, where are my manners?” Basem looked at Max. “ _Bonjour_ , Max!”

“Hey, B,” Max greeted.

“I’m gonna guess you slept really well. When you could sleep.”

“Shut!” Terry said, sternly. He shook his head. “What do you want?”

“Nothing that can’t wait,” Basem replied.

“ _B!_ ”

“Alright, alright! I just wanted to tell you we found Falcone’s cash stash. Wanted to let you know that we have to hit it tonight before they move it again.”

Terry sighed, “Alright. I’m in. Now, go away!”

Basem was still smiling, “Alright, see you later.” He turned to leave.

“B?” Max asked.

Basem looked at Max. “Yeah?”

“Why did you really come by? You could’ve called Terry and told him that.”

Basem stared at her, blankly, as long as he could, but soon had to fight the smirk that was forming.

Terry’s eyes went wide when he realized Max was right. He, slowly, looked at Basem. “You son of a…” he started. “You knew she was here!”

Basem looked away. “Maybe. Sally text me this morning when Max didn’t come home.”

“And why didn’t you call or text me to ask me where she was?”

Basem was resisting the urge to erupt into laughter. “I came by and saw her car this morning! I had to come inside and see this for myself!”

Terry started seething. “You… _you_ …”

Max just smiled and shook her head.

“Hey, at least, I waited!” Basem defended. “I came by about 7 but I figured you both were still… tuckered out.”

Terry pointed at the door and shouted, “ _Get out!_ ”

“Leaving! I’m leaving!” Basem walked toward the door and stopped. He glanced at them, “Congrats, you two.”

“Thanks,” Max smiled.

“Thank you.” Terry nudged his head toward the door. “Now, get the hell out.”

Basem smiled and left.

Terry closed the door and shook his head. He looked at Max. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she replied. “I’m gonna get worse from Sal.”

He chuckled. “Yeah.” He sat down and sighed, “Probably gonna get some teasing when I tell Bruce.”

“And both sets of moms?”

He laughed. “That could be fun.”

“Maybe.” She stared at her boyfriend, sensually. “But… no one said that we couldn’t put off telling everyone else… for a little while.”

He smiled. “Hm. That’s true. What do you think we should do in between time?”

“I could tell you…” She beckoned him closer with her finger, “but I really, _really_ want to show you.”

* * *

Later that afternoon, Max drove back home with a huge, satisfied smile on her face. This was all brand new to her, but it was already great. Max knew she was going to get a lot of mocking from Sally, and Max wasn’t sure if she was ready for that, but it was inevitable. It was also worth it. Max went to her apartment and opened the door, looking for Sally. When she didn’t see Sally or hear any extra noise in the house, Max breathed a sigh of relief. She could put off this embarrassment for a little longer. She walked in, closed the door, and took a few steps.

“FREEZE!” Sally shouted, leaping up from behind the counter.

Max jumped back with a scream as she put her hand over heart to keep it in her chest.

Sally leaned over the counter with a smile and did her best Hannibal Lector impersonation, “Hello, Maxine.”

“Damn it, Sal!” Max shouted. “Don’t do that!”

“Couldn’t help it.” Sally looked her over. “So… you were really with Terry? All night?”

“Umm… well… yeah.”

“And you’re just getting back now.” Sally checked the clock. “It’s after 1.” She smiled bigger and drew her eyes back to Max. “You’ve been gone for over 12 hours. And, pray tell, what have you two been doing?”

Max’s face went red, immediately. “We… just… talked.”

Sally smiled, showing all her teeth, “No, you didn’t. B called me.”

‘ _Damn!_ ’ Max thought.

Sally walked around the counter and got right in Max’s face. “You gave Terry the business, didn’t you?”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Sorry. _He_ gave _you_ the business. All. Night. Long.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Max rushed to her room and slammed the door.

Sally ran to the door and knocked on it. “This won’t stop me!”

“Go away!”

“What happened?”

“ _Go away!_ ”

“You’re gonna tell me eventually! I’ll wait out here as long as it takes!”

“How long are you gonna stand out there?” Max asked.

“I once sat through _Titanic_ and the remake in one afternoon to see how they held up,” Sally replied. “Need I say more?”

Max conceded. “He told me he’s in love with me.”

Sally scoffed. “No slag. I coulda told ya that. Hell, I _did_ tell you that.”

“And… I told him I’m in love with him.”

“Finally!”

Max threw the door open, “The hell do you mean, ‘finally’?!”

“Oh, gimme a break, Max!” Sally shouted. “I knew you were in love with Terry since the day I got back to Gotham! So, that tells me you’ve been into him _way_ before that!”

“Oh, I have not!”

“Max, I’ve seen you walk in here after the crappiest of days! He stops by and, before you get a good look at his face when you open the door, you’re all smiling and starry-eyed, like this!” Sally put on a bright smile and blinked her eyes, rapidly.

Max started blushing at the accusation. Mostly, because it was accurate. “Oh, shut up!” She closed the door, quickly.

“And he’s _always_ felt the same about you!” Sally knew that would get the door open.

Max paused then opened the door, slowly, peeking around it. “Seriously?”

Sally smiled. “I know a bad day when I see one and, boy, has he had some doozies. I’ve seen him on those bad days when he walks in here waiting for you. You come around that corner and boom. Instant sunshine.”

Max sighed. She opened the door all the way, leaned against the frame, and rubbed her head. “Then you don’t think I’m crazy for being in love with my best friend.”

“Do you not listen when I talk? What have I been saying for the past year? Of course I don’t think that! Besides, why wouldn’t you? He’s a great guy.”

“He really is.”

“He does love you, Max. That’s not even a question, there.”

Max sighed then moved down to the floor. She leaned the back of her head against the door frame then looked at Sally. “And sleeping with him when we haven’t even had a first date?”

Sally sat down on floor, crossing her legs. “You can _say_ you haven’t had a ‘first date’ all you want, but you guys have been ‘dating’ longer than my parents did before they got married.”

“But doesn’t that make me a… ya know? Woman of low standards?”

Sally jerked her back. “For sleeping with Terry McGinnis? Hell, no! You’re just lucky I recognized you guys love each other.” She sighed. “If I would’ve thought for a second I had a chance with him, I would’ve jumped on that so fast…”

Max’s eyes widened, “Okay, okay! Point taken!”

“What? I’m just saying if you would’ve given 15 minutes with him in a bed room with some silk sheets…”

“Sal! I don’t wanna hear you talking about jumping my boyfriend’s bones, okay?!”

Sally grinned, “I’m sorry. Your what-friend?”

“My boy…” Max stopped. “…friend. Holy crap.”

Sally nodded, “Mmhmm. And how’d that feel to say out loud?”

Max slowly smiled. “Really, _really_ good.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, at all, Max. Hasn’t been from the jump. You love him, he loves you. There’s nothing else to worry about. You have no more reason to be afraid of loving him anymore.”

Max sighed. “I guess there’s only one thing left to do.”

“What’s that?” Sally asked.

“Tell Mel.”

“Oooh! Can I be there?!”

Max shook her head. “Fine. Let me call her.”

“I can’t wait for this!”

* * *

Mel arrived at the apartment around 4:30. Max opened the door and smiled at her.

Mel exhaled in relief. “Oh, good. I’m glad you’re smiling. I was starting to worry when you said you needed to talk.”

“Sorry,” Max said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Mel exhaled, again. “No, it’s good. Probably wedding jitters. Everything scares me.” She looked at Sally sitting at the counter. “Hey, Sally!”

“Hey, Melly!” Sally waved.

Mel looked back at Max. “So, what’s going on?”

“Sit down,” Max requested.

Mel paused then started to panic. “Aaaaand the worry’s back.” She sat down quickly, “Something’s wrong. Something is _actually_ wrong. Oh, my God, Max, what’s wrong?”

Max giggled and sat down, “Nothing, really.” She put her hand on Mel’s leg. “But… well, let me tell you what happened first.” She proceeded to recap everything that happened with her at the party and Ket. She included Terry saving her, of course.

By the time Max ended the story, Mel’s blood was boiling. She took a deep breath, held it, then let it out, slowly. “So…” she gritted through her teeth. “Ket Gold, huh? He’s in jail, you said?”

“Yeah,” Max confirmed. “Terry said that he took a plea and got 50 years.”

“Good. In 50 years, I’ll meet him outside the prison with a tire iron.”

Max scoffed, “You’d have to beat Terry to him.”

“This time, I just might.” Mel shook her head and exhaled. “But you’re okay, right?”

“Yeah.” Max smiled. “Thanks to Basem and Sally… and Terry.”

“Thank God for him,” Mel looked at Sally, “for all of you.”

“Thanks but don’t let her fool you, Mel,” Sally said. “Terry’s the one who went with his instincts on this one.”

“I’m always thankful for him.” Mel looked back at Max, “Seriously, Max. I love that guy.”

Max paused. “So do I.”

Mel studied Max as she heard it in her voice. Something was different. “Max. Why did you call me over here?”

Sally giggled.

Max exhaled. “It’s about me and Terry.”

Mel smiled. “I knew it! I _knew_ it! You guys are official!” She screamed in happiness. “YES!”

“Will you calm down?!”

“I will not!” Mel pulled her phone out, “I’m calling Mom!”

“No!” Max reached for the phone, “Don’t call Mom!”

Mel pulled the phone out of Max’s reach. “Why?”

“I don’t know how she feels about Terry! I wanna tell her myself!”

Mel stared at Max, incredulously. “Max, shut up! Mom loves Terry!”

Max jerked her neck back. “What? Seriously?”

“There’s no way you didn’t know that.”

“Told ya so!” Sally said.

“You did not!” Max argued.

“Did, too!”

“Max,” Mel getting their attention. “Mom thinks so highly of Terry, she’s _been_ wondering why you weren’t dating already, too.”

“You’ve _gotta_ be kidding me!” Max groaned. “Mom never talks about Terry!”

“Really? Never?”

“Never.” Max reminisced on the number of times she talked to her mother. “Um.” She remembered how often her mother asked about Terry. “No, wait.” She asked about him every time they talked. “Oh, wow… she really _does_ like him.”

“Duh!” Mel’s eyes brightened. “I WON THE BET!”

“What the hell? What bet?”

Mel looked over at Sally and smiled.

“What?” Sally asked. She thought for a second. “Oh, son of a bitch!” She slammed her hand on the counter.

“What the hell is going on?” Max asked.

Sally scratched her head, “Mel bet me that you’d be with Terry before the end of the semester. I said it would happen around Christmas. I totally forgot about that!”

“Oh, what the hell?!”

“And I won,” Mel declared.

“Will you take a check?” Sally asked.

“Don’t worry. You’re free from your winnings. Mom owes me, though.”

“You bet Mom?!”

“It was her idea!” Mel informed. “She said by your graduation.”

“MOM STARTED THIS!?” Max shouted.

“Told you she likes Terry.”

“Oh, wow.”

Mel looked Max over. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

Max’s eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. “U-uh…”

“Knew it!” Mel clapped her hands together. “I knew it!”

“Oh, God!” Max screamed.

“Bet that’s not the first time you’ve said that in past 24 hours,” Sally declared with a mischievous smirk.

“SHUT THE HELL UP, SAL!”

“Or screamed that loud.”

Max groaned and threw her face in the back couch cushion.

Mel laughed then turned serious, “Max. Look at me, little sister.”

Max lifted her face from the cushion.

“I’m proud of you.”

“For what?”

“Accepting that you’re in love,” Mel answered.

“Why are you proud of me for that?” Max inquired.

“Because… us Gibson girls, we have a hard time dealing with that: seeing that a man loves us and accepting that we love him back.”

Max exhaled. “Yeah… it’s scary.”

“It will be. For a while. You’re gonna wonder every day why he loves you. You’re gonna think any second the phone’s gonna ring and he’s gonna break up with you.” Mel got lost in her thoughts but kept speaking. “You’re gonna think that being this happy is nothing but a dream. That you’ll wake up and it’ll all be over.” She chuckled, lightly.

Max stared at Mel, stunned. “Did you acquire mind-reading powers I don’t know about?”

Mel came back fully to the present and smiled. “Nope.” She looked at Max. “I just know how you think.” She sighed. “Because I think the same way.”

Max stared at her, “Really?”

“First time Eddy said he loved me was six months after we started dating. I thought he was lying. I was so stunned, I told him I’d call him later. I didn’t call him for three days.” Mel shook her head. “He should’ve broken up with me but he waited. I told him about Mom and Dad already. He said he knew telling me that would probably cause me to feel… some kind of way, but he wanted me to know. He wanted me to know and he waited while I acted stupid.” She smiled. “That’s how I knew I was in love with him, Max.”

Max smiled.

“And all these thoughts you’re feeling, the ones you _will_ feel? They’ll go away. One day, you’ll be with Terry and none of those questions will come to mind. It’s gonna happen because you two are in love with each other.”

Max exhaled, shakily. “Love. I’m in love with Terry and he’s in love with me.” She exhaled again, fighting back crying. “Never thought I’d end up here. I’m still a little scared.”

“And that’s okay. It’s even good. Let it keep motivating you.”

Max nodded.

“But I’m proud you’re not letting that fear stop you,” Mel said.

Max thought about the fear that she had. She shrugged, slightly, “I can’t let it stop me anymore. I love Terry. I love him so much. I don’t want that fear to stop me.”

Mel smiled and wiped a tear that fell from her eye. “My little sister’s in love.”

“And she knows it,” Sally added.

“That is the difference.” Mel rubbed Max’s arm. “I’m so happy for you, Max.”

“You know what?” Max smiled, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m happy, too.”

* * *

[1] Bruno Mars, “Count On Me”, _Doo-Wops & Hooligans_, 2010


	14. Chapter 14

** Chapter 14 **

Terry walked into Bruce’s study and found him sitting at the desk, reading a book.

“Why aren’t you at the office?” Terry asked.

Bruce turned a page, “Took a personal day.”

“There’s a joke somewhere there. I’ll find it, eventually.”

“Do us both a favor… and don’t.”

Terry laughed. He took a deep breath, “I need to talk to you.”

“Alright.”

“It’s… about me and Max.”

Bruce lowered the book a bit, “Yes?”

“We’re official. Decided it last night.” Terry about that, “Slash this morning.”

Bruce slowly set the book down, placing a bookmark in it. He interlocked his fingers. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

Bruce smiled. “No hesitation. Good. Proves you actually thought this through.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Best of luck to you both.”

Terry nodded, “Thanks, Bruce.”

“I’m proud of you, Terry,” Bruce nodded. “For making this step.”

“You? Proud of that?”

Bruce scoffed. “Don’t sound _that_ surprised.”

“It’s not that. Well, it is. But just… why?”

“It’s not a huge reason, if that’s what you’re thinking. Everyone knows my feelings on dating, but it’s more of your maturity level than anything. You wanted to be with Max, you told her so, and you didn’t let your fear stop you. That shows true growth in a person. Half of the time, we all want something, we’re just too afraid to go get it. You both may still be afraid, that’s natural, but you’re going for it anyway. So… for that, for being brave without the cowl, I’m very proud of you.”

Terry smiled, feeling a lot of pride from the words of his mentor.

Bruce picked the book back up and opened it, “But you could’ve, at least, waited a day before you slept with her.”

Terry’s widened in a shot. “YOU KNEW?!”

Bruce smiled, “Basem called me.”

Terry groaned, “You two don’t even talk to each other! Why would he…”

“This was something he absolutely had to share. I thanked him for telling me.”

Grunting, Terry shook his head and headed for the door, “And you let me have a moment with you! It was a lie!”

Setting the book down, again, Bruce looked at Terry, “No, it wasn’t.”

Terry stopped at the door. He exhaled and looked back at Bruce.

“I meant every word I said. I am genuinely proud and happy for you.”

Terry smiled.

“But I had to have some fun.”

Terry shook his head and groaned but held his smile. “Thanks, Bruce.”

Bruce nodded. “Don’t forget you have patrol tonight. Be sure to… pry yourself away from her in time.”

“Uh… sure thing.” Terry narrowed his eyes. “This is gonna be really awkward for us to talk about from now on, isn’t it?”

“Not if we don’t talk about it.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

Later that night, Terry knocked on the door to Max’s apartment and she answered it with a smile.

“Hey,” he smiled.

“Hey,” she replied.

“Can I come in?”

She raised her eyebrow. “Really?”

“Just because we… umm… talked and we’re official, doesn’t mean I just get to do anything.”

“Oh, God! Get in here.” She pulled him by his shirt, forcing him into a kiss and closing the door behind him. After their kiss, she let go of his shirt. She stared into his eyes. “Hey. I want to be sure of something, okay?”

He nodded, “Okay.”

“I don’t want us to stop being us, ya know?”

“I get that.”

“I mean, we have fun! We’re pretty cool. I want to be with you but… I would smack you if you get too sappy.” She paused. “All the time.”

“Deal,” he replied. “I mean, I want that, too.”

“Don’t get me wrong, McGinnis. Your good looks…” She gazed into his eyes and at his face, “your _very_ good looks and…” Her eyes trailed down, “completely unfair _hot_ body…” She stared at his core.

He smiled. He was enjoying all of the attention but calling her out about it was far more fun. “You had a point.”

She snapped her head back up, “Right! Anyway, all of that will only get you so far.” She paused. “Which is something that would’ve had _way_ more impact if we hadn’t already had sex.”

He stifled a chuckle. “I think I see your point, though.”

“Good. ‘Cause I was doing horribly at setting this ultimatum.”

“Ultimatum?”

“Yes! Ultimatum!”

“What were we just saying about still being ourselves?” he asked.

She giggled. “Guess that was a given.”

“Yep. What’s your ultimatum?

“I expect to be romanced, McGinnis. Not all time but plenty enough. And you better be good at it. I’m a strong, sexy, black girl. You’re lucky to have me.” She threw in a classic-Max smirk for effect.

He didn’t even try to deny it. “You’re right about that. And as far romancing you goes…” He smirked, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a necklace box. “I can try.”

She looked at the box, wide-eyed. “I was joking.”

“I wasn’t.”

She took the box and opened to see a stunning silver necklace inside, composed of wheat links with small diamonds in it. Her mouth fell open, “Terry, this… it-it’s beautiful.”

“Not too much?” he asked.

“No, just… where the hell did you get this?”

“Not important.” He took the necklace out of the box. “Turn around.”

She did so and he placed the necklace in front of her and fastened it behind her neck. He leaned down and, gently, kissed the side of her neck and Max’s knees almost buckled.

She shivered, “Ooooh, don’t do that too much.”

He kept his lips close to her neck. “Didn’t like it?”

“ _So_ the opposite.” She looked at the necklace. “Definite perks to being your girlfriend.” As soon as she said, her eyes went wide. ‘ _Girlfriend._ ’ She looked up at him and saw him smiling.

“I like the sound of that.”

She smiled, “The ‘definite perks’ part?”

“Don’t get smart, smarty. Although, they are a few perks to being your boyfriend.”

“Such as?”

He spun her around and kissed her. It was a strong kiss and Max almost melted as soon her lips connected with his. They kissed for a while before they heard a loud, distinct, “A-HEM!”

They broke the kiss and looked at Sally, standing in the hallway with her arms folded.

“Uh…” Terry mumbled. He smiled, “Hey, Sal.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sally waved his greeting off. “You guys better not be thinking about being inappropriate in my living room set.”

“I bought the couch,” Max pointed out.

“Regardless. For any sexy time, you have your own room. I don’t want any stains that I can’t immediately explain.”

“Shut up, Sal.”

Sally giggled. “I was about to head out, anyway. Figured giving you guys a hard time was the perfect way to start the night.” She thought about it and looked at Terry, “Though, if anyone is having a ‘hard time’ around here, it’s probably…”

“SAL!” Max shouted then pointed at the door, “Get the _hell_ out!”

Sally laughed. “I’m going!” She walked past them, “Have fun! Play nice. Or not. Whatever you’re in to.”

“Shut up, Sal!” the couple said at the same time.

“Oh, God, it starts!” Sally groaned. “They say the same thing at the same time, they’ll finish each other’s sentences, start feeding each other, and, next thing you know, they’ll be dressing alike.”

“Sally, seriously, get the hell out!” Max shouted.

“Going!” Sally opened door, crossed the threshold but turned and looked at them, “I keep joking with you guys, but here’s the truth: if anyone isn’t in favor of this, screw them. This is great and you guys are awesome. I’m really glad that this happened.”

Max calmed down and smiled, “Thanks.”

“Appreciate that, Sal,” Terry nodded.

Sally nodded. “See ya guys.” She exited the apartment, closing the door behind her.

Terry looked at Max and nudged his head toward the door, “She’s right, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. She has that annoying habit. Now, I see how it gets on your nerves when _I’m_ right.”

“I’m good with that.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, Terry putting his arms around her waist. “Me, too.”

They kissed, passionately.

“So…” She traced his jaw line, “where do we go from here?”

He stared into her eyes. “The future.”

“I like how you think.”

He shrugged, “Maybe even… I don’t know. Your bedroom?”

“Oh, really?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Too much?”

“Not a chance. You didn’t get enough the last time, huh?”

“Oh, I did. It was… oh, how should I say this? It was the most schway thing ever.”

She smiled, “Mm. Well… I was hoping that we could… continue the conversation we started last night.”

“Oh, you do?” he asked.

She eyed him up and down, “It was a good, _stimulating_ conversation.”

“I completely agree.”

“How much time do you have?

“Well, I do have patrol, but… I have time before and time after.”

“You sure you won’t be too tired?”

He pulled her closer, “For you… I’ll find plenty of energy.”

She moved her face closer to his, “Oh, my, Mr. McGinnis.” They shared another kiss.

* * *

Nightrunner observed the townhouse where the Yellowjackets had set up shop from a rooftop across the street. He smiled when he heard soft footsteps land behind him. He looked over his shoulder at Batman. “Good night?”

“I got a feeling they’re all going to be for a while,” Batman replied. He walked over to the edge of the rooftop and scouted at the townhouse. “Is that all of them?”

“Yeah, more or less. That’s the main gang, anyway.”

“What about the Falcones?”

“Guess who’s moving the money for them.”

“Ah,” Batman said, understanding. “Schway.”

“So…” Runner cracked his knuckled, “are you ready to do this or did your new relationship tire you out and I have to handle everything?”

“Please. I’ve got more stamina than you think.”

Runner laughed. “Alright, hotshot, good to know. I get it: get all the fun in before work.” He looked back at the townhouse. “Good plan.”

“And after.”

Runner paused. He shot his eyes over to Batman. “Say what?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Batman looked at Runner and smiled.

“Oh, come on, man!” Runner said. “Honestly, you think you’ll have the energy for her after a night of kicking the bad guys’ asses?”

“Have you seen her?” Batman asked. “Oh, I’ll have the energy.”

“List of things I didn’t want to know.”

“ _Second,_ ” Bruce said over their coms.

“Hey!” Batman argued. “He brought it up.”

Runner laughed. He looked and saw a moving truck pull up into front the door to the townhouse. “Looks like it’s showtime.” He patted Batman’s back. “C’mon, Dark Knight. Time to punch the clock, so you can get back to your girl.”

Batman smirked. “Sounds good to me.”


	15. Epilogue

** Epilogue **

**_Months later._ **

It was the first weekend in August and Terry and Max were sitting at the table at reception for Melissa and Eddy’s wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a great time to be had by all, even Sally and Basem managed to attend. Since Max was the Maid of Honor, she had a quite few duties that she needed to take care of but, after a fulfilling all of her obligations and slow dancing with her boyfriend, she sat leaning her head against Terry’s chest while he had arm around her. They watched Mel and Eddy dance and saw how the newlyweds looked each other liked the rest of the world didn’t even matter.

Terry looked at Max and smiled. “Wish that were you?”

She looked up at him, “Dancing? We already slow danced.”

He gave her a look.

She smirked. She considered his question. “Only a little. Maybe. Yeah. Someday.”

He nodded, contemplatively. “Noted.” He paused. “Me, too.”

She looked at him, surprised. “You’re serious?”

He thought about that for a second. He smiled. “Yeah. I am.”

She sat up straight and looked at him, astonished.

“I told you I was all in.”

“I didn’t know you were _that_ all in.”

“You better believe it.”

She almost couldn’t believe it. She felt like crying. “Terry…” she whispered.

“I’m not saying now, Max,” he explained. “But… yeah, it’s what I want. Someday. I mean… I’m not dating you just to kill time. I want to be with you.” He shrugged. “And, I want that to be permanent. Is that okay with you?”

“It… it really is.”

He smiled and kissed her cheek.

She exhaled. “Damn it. How’d you make me fall harder for you?”

“It’s one of my many talents.”

“Arrogant jackass.” She smiled. “But… thanks for that. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

“I just hope it shows how much you mean to me.”

“It does. It really does.” She smiled and looked up and saw her mother sitting across the way, smiling at Mel and Eddy. “Glad she made it.”

Terry looked over at Lisa Gibson and smiled, “Me, too. Maybe things there will get better, too.”

“One can always hope.”

The song ended and Mel and Eddy shared another kiss, leading to applause from the guests. Mel took Eddy by the hand went over to the DJ while everyone went back to talking. A minute later, the DJ lowered the music and got on the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said over the loud speaker, “the bride as requested that the maid of honor and her boyfriend report to the dance floor.”

Max looked up, surprised, and looked at Terry, who shrugged. “Come on, I guess,” Max said. He chuckled as she took him by the hand, and they got up and headed for the dance floor.

As they stood there, Max looked at Mel and shouted, “What are we doing here?”

Mel smiled, “Settling your bet!”

“This song is just for you and Terry, Max,” the DJ declared. “From your sister.” A second later, “Uptown Funk” started playing over the speakers.

Max laughed and blushed while Terry just couldn’t stop laughing. Max looked at her boyfriend, “Do you really wanna do this? In front of everybody?”

“Oh, come on!” Terry replied. “It’ll be fun.”

She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna cheat, aren’t you?”

“Oh.” He looked down at her maid of honor dress with a distractingly low cleavage line. “And you weren’t planning on doing the same?”

She smiled, slyly. “Not fault I’m _very_ blessed.”

“I wasn’t complaining.”

She put on a sarcastic smirk. “Come on, then, McGinnis. Time to show you who has the better moves in this relationship.”

“We settle that all the time,” he reminded.

“I mean, without a bed involved.”

“The same point still stands.”

“Shut up and dance with me.”

He smiled, “Another good song.” He took a breath. “Come on, Gibson! Prepare for supreme embarrassment.”

“Bring it on!”

They danced as silly and as dramatic as they possibly could. Mel and Eddy were too busy laughing and judging who was doing a better job. Basem couldn’t stop shaking his head but smiling all the while. Sally just cheered them both on, alternating back and forth who she was hailing. After a while, Terry and Max weren’t really paying any attention to the bet. They were being themselves and just having fun, not dancing well, save for a few spots that were just used to tease each other. Neither complained about that. This was something that Max needed: she knew everything was the way she wanted. She had Terry and she had the fun they always had but now they had love. That was something she didn’t know she was missing but couldn’t be happier that it was here now.

After a few more minutes of completely embarrassing dancing, the song ended with the couple completely out of breath but smiling as hard as they possibly could. They laughed at each other and kissed.

Mel laughed and got the microphone. “Hey, Max.”

Max looked at Mel.

“How about you two call this bet a tie?”

Max looked at Terry, who shrugged. “Tie?”

Terry considered this then smiled. “Alright, fine!”

Max looked back at Mel, “Tie.”

Mel laughed. “Schway!”

The attendees gave them another round of applause, causing Terry to guide Max to join him in taking a bow. The party then resumed as usual and, after moving off of the dance floor, Max took Terry by the hand guided him to a nearby hallway. Once there, she pushed him against the wall and kissed him, deeply.

After the kiss, Terry stared at her. “Wow. Remind me to take you dancing more often.”

Max laughed. “We definitely need to.” She looked him up and down. “Wanna be slightly bad?”

“I don’t do anything halfway, Ms. Gibson. You know that.”

“Oh… yes, I do.”

“So, if we’re gonna be bad, we should definitely go all in.”

“You read my mind.” She trailed kisses along his cheek and up to his ear then whispered, “The coat check room.”

“That is so damn cliché,” he whispered back.

“You danced like a freakin’ sex machine and you got me turned the hell on right now. Do you want hit this or not?”

Her blunt approach surprised him, sometimes, but he loved it. “Definitely.”

“Then come on, big boy,” she ordered.

“What if you scream?”

“It’ll give the guests something to talk about.”

“You are dangerous.”

She giggled then moved back to look him in the eye. “Yes, I am. I thought you liked that about me?”

He stared in her eyes. “More than you know. That… and so much more.” He traced his hand down her back. “So much more.”

She felt good chills go down her body. “Oh, my, Mr. McGinnis.”


End file.
